Armada Adventures
by MissCHSparkles
Summary: Taken from the first part of my story "The Transformer Kids" this story follows the adventures of Carlos, Alexis and Rad as they live with their Autobot guardians trying to retrieve all the Minicons while trying to outsmart the Decepticons. How does life work for them? Read on to find out and story plots would be very welcome.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note. Those who have read "The Transformer Kids" will recognise the first few chapters of this story. I'm not rewriting or abandoning "The Transformer Kids", I'll actually be updating that really soon but reading over the story, I found I really loved the first part of the story, the bit with the kids as humans with their Autobot guardians. I just found I really wanted to continue this and writing about the kids experiences having the Autobots look after them, a sort of flip story to "Pets"_

_If anyone has any suggestions for this story, I would love to hear them. _

_Enjoy and please review._

_Chapter One_

It was another day, and another battle. It was mid-afternoon and a yellow sun blazed overhead, baking the parched earth. The red, almost Martian landscape was normally filled with the quite sounds of desert life with the exception of the occasional Coyote or Bug making themselves known. But today, the rocky plains rang with the sound of laser blasts and explosions as two separate forces traded blows.

There were two sides to this conflict, both refusing to surrender their ground to the other. Both sides had a single, identical goal. That goal was to locate and retrieve a nearby Minicon at any cost before the opposing force did.

This was actually the first battle in a long time, nearly two earth weeks, since the Autobots and the Decepticons last traded blows. The wait for a Minicon to reveal itself had set both forces on edge, every last one of them itching for a fight and the battle was heated.

Overhead, both Jetfire and StarScream soared through the cloudless blue sky in a intense dogfight with guns blazing as they tried to outmanoeuvre the other. But it was easy to tell that for as intense as it was, both were holding back from a full engagement. They were waiting for a signal by their respective searchers Hotshot and Cyclonus. Once one of the two found the Minicon, it was their job to retrieve it.

Both searchers in question sped through the Utah Badlands. A place where samples of the most ancient stones in the world were found as well as various dinosaur fossils including the famous Utah Raptor, star of the Jurassic Park movies. But the transformers wanted something that had lain undisturbed in these rocks for considerably less time than any raptor.

Elsewhere, an explosion sent violent vibrations throughout the area causing rocks and boulders to loosen and tumble down on everything in the vicinity. Including, for example, a bright yellow Camero.

The Camero in question whooped, clearly enjoying himself as he raced down a narrow canyon dodging the falling debris. His passengers on the other hand...

"Ahhhhh!"

His passengers on the other hand chorused out, hanging on tight to whatever they could as they tried not to be knocked about by the wild swerving.

"Dao Man! What was that?"

"Hotshot, look out for those rocks!"

"Slow down! You're going too fast!"

Hotshot chuckled, actually increasing his speed before replying to his passengers. "Come on Rad, I have to go fast to avoid those Decepticreeps. And for your information Carlos, That was Megatron trying to use his Cannon to blast Optimus and as usual missing. And don't worry so much Alexis, I can handle it. No bunch of rocks is going to slow me of all bots down."

Another loud explosion set more rocks to dislodge and tumble from the canyon walls and rain down on them, prompting Hotshot to use his cannons to blast the larger ones while swerving to avoid the others.

Once they were apparently clear, Hotshot chuckled again, this time with a touch of arrogance. "See? I told ya-ouch!" He yelped as the last rock he just blasted ricocheted off the canyon floor to whack on straight on the bonnet.

The yellow car skidded, almost throwing around his passengers even more even as they laughed before straightening out. Hotshot moaned, wishing he could rub the sore spot on his Chassis. "Ow, Ow, Owwww."

After she had managed to catch her breath and stop laughing, Alexis leaned around the side of the driver's seat to look at the dashboard and spoke, a slightly mocking tone in her voice. "You were saying something Hotshot?"

All she got back was half-hearted grumbles, which sparked her and Rad into another laughing fit. Carlos on the other hand, was holding himself white-knuckled and looking a bit pale, being absolutely terrified as how close that rock had been from coming through the window and straight at him.

Once he managed to compose himself, he cast a pointed look at the two in the backseat, speaking in a wounded tone. "Hey Dudes, that that almost hit the windscreen and me. That's mucho not funny."

Both Alexis and Rad continued to laugh despite Carlo's protest. Finally, both calmed down, though Rad was still snickering. "What you worried about Carlos? After all, its Hotshot behind the wheel."

Alexis joined in, snickering as well. "Yeah, our Hotshot driver is too smart for a bunch of rocks."

Just as she said it, Karma came back to bite her. The last rock blasted by Hotshot burst into a dense cloud of pebbles rather than blown clean out of the way and pelted Hotshot's bonnet. The Mech yelped in pain and skidded out of control, spinning wildly on the canyon floor while the kids yelled in a panic. It was actually a miracle that they didn't crash into one of the walls, with how narrow it was.

But it was not the time to count their blessings, as Hotshot collided mid-spin with a large piece of rubble. Momentum lifted Hotshot into the air and on his side, causing the kids to yell even louder as they found gravity suddenly changing.

"Yea-arrghhh!" Hotshot ground out as he slid on his side over the bottom of the canyon until he came to a painful stop. The kids on the other hand were alright, if a little unnerved from being tossed about so abruptly. They had been wearing their jumpsuits, so they had been saved from the worst.

They were still slightly shaken after the wild ride, and were painfully aware of how vulnerable they were in this position. But even then, they trusted Hotshot to protect then with his all so they weren't as worried as they could have been.

But still, they would be more comfortable when they were not hanging in their seats. Once they gathered their senses, they carefully undid their seatbelts and climbed out. This allowed Hotshot transform and right himself. Once the Mech was righted and sitting, the three kids voiced their concerns for their yellow friend, starting with Carlos. "Hotshot, you ok man? You took a beating there."

But before Hotshot could answer or before the other two could voice their own worries, the Mech's Comm. beeped to life and Optimus's voice came through, sounding concerned.

"Hotshot, what happened? Are you and the kids alright?"

Hotshot tapped his Comm. and groaned out a response. "Yes sir, everything's fine and we're having a great time." He decided that he would rather not elaborate on his little accident.

"Hotshot, we all heard you yelling and a crash. Were you attacked by...," Optimus was suddenly cut off by a grunt, and the sound of clashing metal came over the comm. followed by a voice that was definitely not Prime.

"Pay attention when you're fighting me Prime!"

A thud, and the sound of clashing metal before they heard Prime respond. "If you don't mind Megatron, I was enquiring after my men."

"Laughable Prime, I think I warrant a bit more attention than some children," Was the sound of Megatron, his voice smug.

"Hardly, those kids are worth ten of you Megatron," Optimus said in a calm yet serious voice. "They have been nothing but welcoming and supportive ever since we have come to their world."

There was the sound of grappling and more clashing metal, followed by growling. Both boys grinned at each other and shared a high-five, while Alexis blushed at Optimus's words.

But then Megatron spoke again. "What makes you think I was referring to those human brats you keep as pets Prime?"

"Hey!" said Hotshot indignantly. "Did he just call me a kid?"

"Why, yes," Megatron sneered. "I do believe I did. Do you have a problem with that, child?"

They heard Megatron chuckling as Hotshot angrily muttered curses. Rad, Carlos and Alexis jaws had dropped but now they were glaring at the Comm. system. They couldn't believe what Megatron had just said.

"I really wonder sometimes how you cope Optimus, with such adolescents masquerading as soldiers," Megatron said with sneering malice.

"Well Megatron," Optimus replied lightly. "You would know as most of those under your command are soldiers who act like children."

There was a fierce snarl from Megatron and they heard him engaging with Optimus before the Comm. link was abruptly cut off. The kids were how grinning at Optimus's words and even Hotshot's grumblings had subsided. His Comm. buzzed and Sideswipe's voice spoke. "Hey bro, did you catch that?"

"Yeah, I heard MegaMoron. But Optimus showed him," replied Hotshot, a grin in his voice.

"Yeah I saw. Bro, what's happening your end? We lost sight of you."

"Just a slight setback, nothing I can't handle. We're in the canyon next to the really tall stack."

"Copy that Hotshot; you'd better get moving before Cyclonus or Starscream spot you."

"Alright bro. Anything on the Minicon?"

"Negative, Sideswipe out."

"Alright, Hotshot out," Hotshot released his Comm. and finally managed to get a chance to look himself over.

"Aw man, look at my paint job!" he groaned, looking at the deep scratches and dents in his armour, especially the parts where the paint had been scrapped down to the metal.

Alexis set her hand on the leg of her large friend and smiled. "Never mind Hotshot, we'll get you fixed up back at base," she said soothingly.

"Boy," exclaimed Carlos stretching and glancing around at the ruined canyon walls and ground. "What a mess. Hey Rad, how long have we been out here?"

"I'd say about an hour," replied Rad.

Carlos whistled.

"That Minicon is hidden real good this time, that's for sure," said Hotshot. "But at least the Decepticons haven't found it."

"Yeah, but even if they do find it first, I bet we can beat them to it" said Carlos.

"But that's the thing isn't it?" said Alexis. Everyone looked at her and she continued. "It doesn't matter who finds it, as the other side always finds out and then it becomes a big battle to retrieve it. I think we need to come up with a better strategy."

"You've got a point Alexis," said Hotshot, brow furrowed. "It's been pretty obvious so far, to the Decepticons that I've been charging around with no clear direction. That'll change once we spot that Minicon."

"Speaking of which, Rad any word from Laserbeak?" Alexis asked.

Rad pulled out his communicator and glanced at the screen. An image of some rocky out crops appeared as Laserbeak flew over them, tirelessly searching for a hint of green among the red rocks. Rad shook his head as he spoke.

"Nothing yet."

"So what are we going to do when we find that Minicon?" asked Carlos.

They all thought for a moment, and then Rad said. "What if we went for the Minicon."

"Err dude, isn't that what we were doing anyway?" Said Carlos confused.

"No I mean, what if just the three of us went?" said Rad. Carlos still looked a bit puzzled but Alexis's face lit up as she clicked with what Rad meant.

"Just the three of you on your own, going after a Minicon?" said Hotshot not looking very happy with the idea. "The Decepticon's would be on you in moment!"

"Not if they were chasing you," Alexis said. At Hotshot's confused look, she continued. "When we locate the Minicon, you'll go haring off to a point that's far away from the actual Minicon while we go to its real location."

Hotshot looked thoughtful at this but still concerned. "That could work, but I still don't like the idea of you kids unprotected."

"But once we find the Minicon, we'll call for our Minicon's and they'll look after us!" said Carlos excitedly. "Come on, this could totally work."

"Well…" said Hotshot wavering.

"The Decepticons would be too busy with you and the others. If we stay with you, we'll probably be at more risk. Not that you don't do a great job protecting us," Alexis added hastily. "But this way we can sneak right past Megatron, grab the Minicon and go home."

Before Hotshot could reply, they heard the sound of blades whirling. The sound was rapidly getting louder meaning the vehicle was getting closer and fast.

"Cyclonus!" said Hotshot staring in the direction of the sound and quickly transformed. He reversed beside the three kids and threw open his doors. They quickly piled into the back and were still strapping themselves in as Hotshot took off, his doors slamming shut with a resounding clap.

With the roar of a high-power engine he shot through and out the canyon and onto the rocky plain, and although they were now exposed to the Decepticons it was better than being caught in a confined space like the canyon with a trigger happy maniac like Cyclonus.

It wasn't long until the helicopter whirled into sight and spotted them. With a whoop of mad delight, he went after them, guns blazing.

"Hey Autobot, where are you off to in such a hurry?" Cyclonus laughed, blowing up a large boulder Hotshot had just passed.

"Maybe you guys have a point," Hotshot mumbled to the kids. Aloud he said "I'm trying to get away from your ugly mug, Cyclonus!"

"Ooooh, that hurt. NOT!" Cyclonus said mockingly, increasing his speed. "But not as much as this will!" he laughed as he climbed higher and sprayed the ground in front of Hotshot with shots forcing Hotshot to drive through a hail of debris and explosions.

Hotshot gritted his teeth as the small sharp shards bit into his armour, and increased his speed. Once free of the debris, he took a sharp left and took off through some rocky pillars. But Cyclonus kept after them, being a flyer had serious advantages, especially as Hotshot was hindered by the vast rocky Utah Badlands. Suddenly Hotshot's Comm. came to life again, only this time it was Blurr's voice.

"Hotshot, turn right after you pass those three stacks and drive straight along the cliff top."

"Roger Blurr."

Hotshot did as he was instructed, skidding madly as he turned and soon they were racing along the edge of a ravine. Hotshot hoped Blurr had a good plan because Cyclonus was still on his tail and gaining.

"And boy, I really don't fancy falling!" thought Hotshot.

"Give up Autobot," Cyclonus called. "You can't escape me, I'm gonna...Argh!" he yelled as a burst of laser fire hit his side. Two well placed shots hit his rotor blades and he careened out of control. With a yell, he plunged, smoking into the ravine, taken down by the Autobot sniper.

"Thanks Blurr. Great shooting!" said Hotshot as the kids cheered.

"You're welcome," came Blurr's cool voice before disconnecting the link.

Now that he wasn't being pursued, Hotshot slowed down so he was simply cruising. The sniper was nowhere to be seen, he had undoubtedly rejoined the main battle from whatever vantage point he was on. With Cyclonus gone they could hear the muffled sounds of battle, that Hotshot was sure was over the peak that bordered the ravine. Hotshot sighed; they were safe, for now.

"Everyone alright?" he asked the kids.

"We're cool, amigo," replied Carlos patting the seat in front of him.

"I'm going to call Highwire, Grindor and Sureshock to meet us, so we'll be ready when we find that Minicon," said Rad opening a link to his Minicon.

"You kids would be careful, because although I'll be distracting the Decepticons, we won't be able to call the others in case we're overheard," warned Hotshot.

"We'll be extra cautious," Alexis said reassuringly. "When we get the Minicon, we'll call Jetfire or Red Alert and they can get us back to the base."

"Alright, we'll give this plan of yours a shot, now where shall we go from here?" He broke off as Rad's portable communicator beeped.

"He's done it, Laserbeak's found the Minicon!" cried Rad excitedly, looking at a picture of something jade green embedded in the rock.

"And Highwire and the other's aren't far from here!" Exclaimed Alexis

With the kids Minicon's coordinates, Hotshot headed straight for their location. He drove quickly but cautiously so as not to attract any attention. In no time at all, he reached an overhang in the side of a rocky slope where the Minicons were hiding. Hotshot causally slowed to stop beside them as the kids piled out.

"You've got five minutes to make a start, before I start my own run. Good luck!" Hotshot said before driving off.

Highwire beeped softly in question as Hotshot disappeared from sight. Grindor and Sureshock were also looking questioningly at their human counterparts.

"Don't worry guys, we've got a plan," said Rad laughingly. "We're going after the Minicon while Hotshot distracts the Decepticons."

The Minicon Trio still did not look assured, so Alexis stepped up to try with a caring voice. "It's alright; we'll be okay with you guys here to help."

"Yeah, we're a team!" said Carlos. "Come on guys, let's get going."

The Minicon's gave small shrugs and transformed. Carlos leapt onto his skateboard, Alexis onto her scooter and Rad onto his bike. They set off, being careful not to be caught out in the open. Their route did unfortunately bring them close to the battle, in fact only a small overhang hid them form Demolisher.

"What was that?" Demolisher said suddenly as he briefly paused in his shooting as he heard the sound of rocks falling close by. Alexis on Grindor had accidentally knocked into them, as the kids on their Minicons had quickly rushed from their previous hiding place. They quickly flattened themselves against the rock as they heard Demolisher peering around.

"Hmm," Demolisher was still, listening for further disturbance. But then a noise behind him made him turn. It sounded like the roar of a car speeding close by.

"Megatron!" They heard Demolisher cried. "It's that Autobot Hotshot, I think he's going for the Minicon!"

"Well done Hotshot," thought the kids as they heard Megatron barking an order over Demolisher's comm.

"Well get after him, Demolisher! Thrust, Cyclonus you too. Wheeljack, Starscream you keep the Autobots pinned down. I'll deal with Prime..."

"Yes sir!" They heard Demolisher say before he went off after Hotshot.

"Come on," whispered Rad and they set off again. Even though they weren't near any Decepticons now, they had decided to whisper to be on the safe side. Five minutes later they had reached the small gorge where the Minicon was located. The kids quickly jumped off their Minicons to peer over the edge.

"How are we going to get down?" asked Carlos looking down into the shadows.

"It's not that deep," said Alexis. "But it's a pity we don't have rope or something."

The Minicon's after being relieved of their passengers had transformed from their vehicle modes. At Alexis's words, they transformed and combined into Perceptor. Scooping Carlos up, Perceptor jumped down into the gorge. Carlos had given a small yelp as they went down but only out of surprise. He quickly surveyed the scene as Perceptor let him down. He looked back up at Rad and Alexis and said.

"It's not too far, Rad if you help Alexis, Perceptor can catch her, and then you can come down."

They did as Carlos suggested, holding onto Alexis's arms. Rad lowered her into the shallow chasm. Once he reached a certain point, he let go and Alexis landed in Perceptor's arms.

"Thank you, Perceptor," she said smiling as he let her down.

Rad now lowered himself into abyss, until he was hanging by his fingers then dropped into Perceptor's waiting grasp. Once Perceptor had let him down, Rad joined Alexis and Carlos as they examined the damp stone walls. Perceptor also joined them as Alexis touched the cold dark rock.

"The Minicon's embedded in the rock somewhere, it shouldn't take long for us to find it," she said softly.

They carefully made their way along, searching for the hidden Minicon. The distance echo of battle reverberated around them. Suddenly Rad pointed at a deep crack in the wall.

"Look, there it is!" he said hurrying over to the crack where something green was glowing. He stuck his arm into the crack as the others ran over and pulled out the dormant Minicon.

"Dude, I can't believe it!" Carlos said excitedly but quietly. "We just have to get out of here like, now."

"We'll contact Jetfire as soon as we're up top," said Alexis as they quickly made their way back to the point they had descended from. When they reached it, Perceptor braced himself against the wall allowing Rad to climb up on his shoulders. Once there he sat down and Carlos helped Alexis to climb up Perceptor and onto Rad's shoulders. Once there she stretched to grab the cliff edge and managed to pull herself up and out. As soon as she was on firm ground, she peered back down to see Rad standing up and holding the Minicon up for her. She took it and carefully concealed it in a hole before leaning back over the cliff.

Rad had sat down again to allow Carlos to climb up and once he was on Rad's shoulders, Alexis grabbed his arms and helped him haul himself out. Then both Alexis and Carlos reached down and helped Rad out. With Alexis and Carlos holding onto him, Rad held his arms out to Perceptor who jumped up, grabbed hold of them and was pulled up into the sunlight. Everyone paused to catch their breath.

"Well guys it was hard work but we did it!" said Carlos triumphantly. "Alexis you get the Minicon, then Rad can contact Jetfire and then we are out of here."

Alexis bent and retrieved the Minicon form its hiding place. She, Rad and Perceptor suddenly looked beyond the gorge as a distant explosion sounded.

"We'd better go..." Rad started to say but suddenly caught sight of Carlos's face. He hadn't turned to look beyond the gorge but was staring in shock at a point behind them. It was then that Rad and Alexis felt a very large shadow fall over them. Slowly they turned to see what Carlos was staring at and froze in horror at the sight that met their eyes.

"Well, well what do we have here?"

_Author's note. Just who is it that's found the kids? Find out next time, until then._


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's note. I'm not rewriting the whole of Transformer kids, I'm just using the first six or so chapters with a bit of editing before completely new chapters will be written._

_Suggestions are welcome._

_Enjoy and please review._

_**Chapter Two.**_

"Well, well. _Whatever_ do we have here? Some strays? And here I thought Prime actually kept a better eye on you."

Megatron smiled, towering over the kids and Perceptor. Alexis was acutely aware of the Minicon nestled in her arms, and right in plain sight. She unconsciously she hugged it to her chest as Megaton chuckled at their silence.

"You know, I'm actually a little impressed at how you managed to find this Minicon, especially as I don't think dear Optimums is aware of it."

"You're not getting it Megatron, so you can just forget it!" Stated Rad hotly as he and Carlos flanked Alexis and pushed her behind them.

"Now let's not be foolish," said Megatron still amused. "You have nowhere to _run_, nowhere to _hide_, and no _one_ to help you. Don't be a fool like Prime and continue when you're already defeated."

"Oh yeah?" said Carlos defiantly as he grabbed Rad's comm. "Jetfire, do you copy? Jetfire? Hotshot? Optimus?"

Carlos yelling trailed off, as he looked up and stared at Megatron who stood there smirking

"Well, How unfortunate. Something seems to be wrong with your communicator doesn't it? Never did trust such shoddy pieces of Autobot technology myself you know, they always had the unfortunate habit of malfunction at the most _inopportune_of times."

"He's jamming us," whispered Carlos in horror.

Megatron suddenly moved, apparently aiming to close the distance between them.

Perceptor jumped in front of them, his arms held out protectively in front of them. Megatron however continued unperturbed, and a moment later they knew why as Leader-One appeared out of nowhere and attacked Perceptor. The two Minicon's wrestled briefly but as Perceptor had been caught by surprise, the fight ended with Perceptor pined to the ground by Leader-One.

Megatron held out his hand, the smirk gone and replaced with a deadly and dangerous seriousness.

"Now give me the Minicon girl. Just give it to me, and I'll be on my way and you can rejoin your Autobot friends without harm."

Alexis shook her head violently, turning her body to shield the Minicon from him. "And you think we believe that _you're_ just going to let us go?"

"Of course. I just want the Minicon. It's _below_ me to even think about wasting the energy to punish you for your impudence. Prime will do it for me thanks to your apparent disregard for his orders." His smirk returned.

"You need to learn obedience, and I'm not going to interfere with that."

"Where is Optimus?" asked Alexis, hoping to distract Megatron. At least until either help came or Rad and Carlos came up with something. "Last we heard, you were fighting him."

"Oh we separated a while ago, that young fool Sideswipe was cornered by Wheeljack. Prime rushed off to help, leaving me to deal with that old scrapper Scavenger. And then of course, Demolisher called to inform me that Hotshot had found the Minicon."

Megatron paused for a moment, bringing his outstretched hand back to touch his chin thoughtfully. It seemed for the moment, Megatron was happy to tell them how he had found them. She knew the boy's beside her would be doing some fast thinking.

"I didn't suspect anything amiss until Cyclonus happened to mention that you were no longer with Hotshot, though you had been when he had attacked earlier. I was going to take care of Prime when I noticed that Perceptor here."

He smiled coldly down at the immobilized Minicon.

"Had also disappeared. Since I knew of all the other Autobot's movements, I realized that you were for some reason on your own."

Megaton suddenly redirected his gaze to a point where, Alexis suspected, Optimus and the others were. With Megatron's optics off them for the moment, she felt the boy's shift slightly beside her. Without turning her face away from Megatron's she looked at Rad who had slipped his hand into a pocket. As she watched, he carefully withdrew his hand holding a small fat stick.

Looking towards Carlos she saw he had done the same. Moving slowly so Megatron wouldn't notice their movements, they slipped their sticks into her arms, hidden by the Minicon. Alexis knew what they were; special flares the Autobot's had given them. They were activated by being thrown hard against the ground causing a brilliant bright white light.

Alexis had a wonderful idea about what precisely to do with them.

"It struck me as odd that Prime and his men hadn't reacted any quicker than us when Hotshot supposedly found that Minicon. Now why would your friend not alert his leader unless he especially wanted us to notice him? And so," he concluded looking back at them. "I realized your little plot and tracked you down."

He gazed thoughtfully at them for a moment before extending his hand again. The three kids backed up slightly, they couldn't go far as there was a drop right behind them. Megaton gave a small sigh and started moving towards them, possibly to stop them falling in with the Minicon where it would be harder for him to get out.

"I will not ask again, give me the Minicon, _now,"_ he commanded as he lent towards them.

The kids glanced at each other, and then their shoulders slumped in defeat.

"You'd better give it to him," said Rad softly.

Alexis stepped forward as Megatron leaned even closer, looking triumphant at her bowed head. She started to uncross her arms which had held the Minicon close and causally placed one hand behind the Minion as though to support it.

Suddenly her head whipped up and she flung both flare sticks straight at Megatron's face. He reared back in shock as one exploded on his chest, the other on one of his horns. He yelled in pain as they exploded in a brilliant burst of light.

As soon as Alexis had thrown those sticks, the kids had sprung into action. Rad and Carlos had rushed Leader-One and knocked him off Perceptor, then yelled at Alexis to run as Leader-One tried to grab them only to be intercepted by Perceptor. The two Minicons started wrestling again, this time with the advantage to Perceptor as the larger of the two. Alexis couldn't run past Megatron or jump into or across the gorge so she ran along it as fast as she could.

"Little brats," snarled Megatron clutching at his optics but managing to straighten up to his full height.

Hearing the two boys struggling to help Perceptor, he blindly swiped at them, the tips of his fingers catching Rad and sending him flying. Carlos yelled as he friend hit a rock stack and slumped to the ground. Hearing Carlos's cry, Alexis stopped and turned back to see Carlos running over to a prone Rad. She made to run back towards them, when she saw Megatron rubbing at his optics and apparently able to see again.

His angry red optics focused on her and his face twisted in a snarl. Seeing that Rad was still moving, she turned and sprinted away. She could hear Megatron coming after her and knew she couldn't out run him, but at least he wasn't going after the boys.

She twisted and turned among the large rocks, turning a corner and ducking under a large slab of rock that balanced on two smaller ones. There was a small tunnel in front of her with light at the end so she ducked into that and quickly crawled through, but to her horror she out in a box canyon.

Surrounded by high cliffs, some parts of which possibly could be climbed but would leave her completely exposed, she realized her only escape was the tunnel she had just come through.

But a she was about to run through it, Megatron vaulted over the rocky outcrop, one of his feet crashing down to block her escape route. His face was thunderous but his voice was low when he spoke.

"Did you honestly think, truly think, that you could defy me and get away with it girl?" His optics were flashing and he bared his fangs.

"That Minicon is mine. And as I said before, you require a lesson in obedience," He clenched one hand into a fist, as he continued. "And while I was going to leave it to Prime to teach it to you, it appears you obviously need some… extra motivational discipline."

His fist crackled with electricity and Alexis flinched, remembering when she and the boy's had been captured. There was no way out, he was going to grab her and hold her, till she fell limp to the ground. She still shielded the Minicon with her arms but soon he would take it, rip it from her grasp. Megatron started to reach for her when it happened.

"Hold fast, Megatron!" A loud voice boomed.

"Prime," snarled Megatron as a tall blue and red mech leapt between him and Alexis. Alexis couldn't believe her eyes; Optimus had arrived just in time. Optimus was poised ready for battle, while Megatron straightened to look him full in the face.

"Out of my way, Prime, she needs to be taught a lesson and I'm going to give it to her," Megatron snarled.

"Not a chance Megatron. You'll have to go through me first," replied Optimus his hands poised to strike.

"It would be a pleasure Prime," said Megatron as he lunged at Optimus. The two locked hands and started grappling. Alexis didn't know what to do; she couldn't risk trying to run for the tunnel, not while too very large robots were fighting in an enclosed space. But then there was a whoosh of engines and she looked up to see Jetfire hovering over her.

"Need a lift?" he called cheerfully reaching down and scooping her up.

With her safely in his hands, Jetfire lifted up, clearing the cliffs. Alexis sighed in relief but saw Megatron glaring up at them. He suddenly kicked Optimus, followed by a brutal punch to the side of the face, smashing Optimus into the side of the cliff. Megatron made to climb up but Optimus recovered himself and seized Megatron around the waist. While trying to push Optimus off, he yelled into his communicator.

"Starscream, get me the Minicon and the girl."

"As you command, Megatron," came Starscream's voice.

"Uh, oh," said Jetfire, searching the sky for the seeker. "Looks like we're going get some company. But don't worry, I can handle him."

"Oh, really?" came a cold voice right behind them. Jetfire spun to face Starscream who slowed to hover in front of Jetfire. Starscream had the Starsabre and he held it out horizontally, a brazen challenge. Jetfire brought Alexis against his chest protectively but he still sounded cocky as he said.

"How you doing Screamer?"

"Do not call me that!" snarled Starscream. "You will pay for that and then I will take my prize." His optics were fixed hungrily on the Minicon for which Alexis was somewhat grateful. She hoped she never saw him looking at her like that.

"I think your forgetting something _Starscream,"_said Jetfire smugly.

"Oh and what might that be?" asked Starscream.

"I can just warp right out of here with Alexis and the Minicon and there's nothing you can do," said Jetfire even more smugly.

But before Starscream could react to that, Alexis cried out.

"What about Rad and Carlos, they're still out there."

"Oh, uh yeah," Jetfire mumbled as Starscream smirked.

"I guess you won't be going quite yet Autobot."

"Starscream!" yelled Megatron from below as he still tried to get Optimus off him. "I thought I gave you an order! Now capture that Minicon and the _Girl_ this instant!"

"Yes Megatron," Starscream responded before he looked curiously at Alexis as he and Jetfire continued to hover. "I don't know what you did to annoy Megatron, but I'd advise you to simply take his punishment and get it over with. He'll leave you alone after that."

Alexis stared at him for a moment, a strange look on her face before she responded. "Is that what you do Starscream?"

Starscream froze for a moment, then his face twisted and he lunged at Jetfire with the Starsabre. Jetfire flew backwards dodging Starscream's attack, holding Alexis out and away from him while he tried to aim his gun at Starscream. Unfortunately Starscream could easily block the shots, so Jetfire opted for keeping up a barrage of shots at Starscream, forcing him to take a defensive stance.

On the ground, Optimus was still holding onto Megatron who was thrashing and punching, trying to claw his way up the cliff. Optimus knew he couldn't keep this up, they would have to separate.

"Men, converge on my signal and find Rad and Carlos!"

"Oh no you don't Prime," growled Megatron. He also yelled into his communicator.

"Decepticons, regroup with Starscream and me, take out any Autobots you see and," he said with a malevolent glance in Optimus's direction.

"Get me those little brats!"

"Aw man we are in so much trouble" Carlos groaned as Megatron's order came over Wheeljack's comm. Wheeljack now smiled sinisterly down at him and Rad. Things had gone steadily downhill since Megatron had found them.

Ten minutes previously.

"It's alright Perceptor," Rad said as he hauled one of Leader-One's arms off Perceptor.

"Yeah as soon as you're free, we are out of here," panted Carlos as he struggled with the other arm. Unfortunately, their exertions caught Megatron's attention as he clutched his optics and he blindly swung at them. Carlos ducked but Rad was hit and flung through the air to collide with a rock stack.

"Rad," cried Carlos as his friend slid down and lay motionless.

"Go," beeped Perceptor who was free enough to grapple with Leader-One. Carlos nodded wordlessly, let go of Leader-One and raced over to Rad. Carlos gently cradled his friend in his arms, checking for injuries. He saw a very large lump on the back of Rad's head but it wasn't bleeding and he didn't seem to have any other injuries.

Carlos now looked up to see Megatron recovering but he wasn't paying attention to the two boys. Carlos saw that Alexis had stopped and looked like she wanted to run back and help Rad.

"_Don't do it,"_ thought Carlos as Rad moaned and shifted. This seemed to snap Alexis out of it and she turned and sprinted away. Megatron, now fully recovered, snarled as he set off after her. Carlos groaned, feeling completely helpless with one of his best friends injured in his arms and the other being chased by a very large angry robot.

"Carlos," Rad murmured trying to wake up, his face grimacing.

"Don't move man, just relax," Carlos said feeling desperate. What was he going to do?

"The comm, Megatron's not here so it should be…nooo," Carlos moaned seeing the crushed remnants some feet away. He had dropped it when for Leader-One and Megatron had stepped on it as he pursued Alexis.

Carlos heard a cry and looked up to see Leader-One throw Perceptor off him. The Deception Minicon stared at him for a moment before transforming and setting off, disappearing from sight. Perceptor now came over to Carlos and bent over Rad, beeping concernedly.

"Don't worry," said Carlos. "He'll be fine, but we need to find Optimus or Hotshot or anybody." He broke off, trying to stay calm.

"Perceptor," moaned Rad softly. "Go help Alexis, she's in more trouble than we are."

"He's right, amigo," agreed Carlos. "We'll get under cover, you can get Jetfire or someone to pick us up but Alexis needs backup, especially if that Minicon activates."

Perceptor nodded and was about to set off but there was a sound of jet engines and they turned to see Thrust hovering in the air.

"So, the female child has the Minicon," he said in his dull voice. "Excellent, she will not be difficult to take and no doubt Lord Megatron will reward me if I am the one to do it."

Perceptor beeped in anger and charged at Thrust, separating and leaping into the air. Grindor clawed his way up to Thrust's face and started pummelling it. Highwire and Sureshock were hanging onto Thrusts arms as he thrashed about, trying to dislodge them.

Carlos glared at the struggling figure in the air but then Rad moaned again. Carlos shifted his grip and lifted Rad in his arms as he stood.

"Come on, man, I'm getting you out of here," Carlos said as he carried Rad away. He struggled up a rocky hill, hoping he could spot an Autobot from the top. It was difficult going, with small grit and rubble causing Carlos to slip and slide. Eventually, though he made it. In the distance, to his delight he saw Jetfire hovering in the air with Alexis in his hand.

"Rad," he cried excitedly. "Jetfire's got Alexis."

Rad opened his eyes and smiled. But then he gave a small frown.

"Where's Megatron?"

"I can't see him," said Carlos scanning the surrounding area. "He might be further down, you know in a gully or something. Rad, why don't I try to signal Jetfire and he can still pick us up?"

"Yeah," said Rad turning his head. "Or... Is that HotShot I hear?"

Carlos listened and sure enough he could hear the roar of a car approaching. But oddly enough he couldn't see the car even though it sounded close.

"HotShot," Carlos called. "Sideswipe."

They heard the car turn and head in their direction. As it approached, Carlos looked back towards Jetfire and saw that he was now facing off Starscream. He heard the car right behind them and turned saying.

"Jetfire's fighting Starscream, HotShot what are we going to do..." he broke off with a gasp. There was nothing behind him but a voice suddenly said.

"Oh I'm not HotShot."

The air shimmered, then a black car materialised right in front of Carlos, before transforming into Wheeljack, the former Autobot. Wheeljack smiled coldly down at them and said.

"Thought I was one of the Autobots, did you? Sorry to disappoint,"

"It's no big deal, man," said Carlos smiling nervously back, hoping Whelljack wasn't interested in them. "Um, I think Thrust might be in a little bit of trouble, could maybe do with a hand."

Wheeljack grimaced, he obviously wasn't very fond of Thrust, but started in the direction of Thrust's yells. Unfortunately it was at this point that Megatron's order came over his comm.

"Decepticons, regroup with Starscream and me, take out any Autobots you see and get me those little brats."

Wheeljack turned back to look down at Carlos again and smiled sinisterly. Carlos clutched Rad as Wheeljack said.

"Looks like a change of plans, boys. Just hold still and I won't hurt you."

He bent to grab them but sudden roar of engines made him start and turn as a yellow car raced up the slope.

"HotShot," Carlos cried as HotShot transformed and lunged at Wheeljack. Carlos managed to scoop Rad up and away as Wheeljack crashed to the ground under Hotshot.

"You're not taking these kids anywhere, Wheeljack, not while I'm around."

Wheeljack snarled and the two bots grappled fiercely with each other. Suddenly another car appeared, it was Sideswipe who raced up to Carlos and Rad swinging open his doors.

"Need a ride?" he asked as Carlos helped Rad in, strapping his friend in before fastening his own belt. Sideswipe roared away, followed by Hotshot who had jumped off Wheeljack and transformed. Wheeljack also transformed and chased after them.

"Where's Alexis?" said HotShot as they raced towards Jetfire.

"Jetfire has her and Alexis has the Minicon. Sureshock and the others are fighting Thrust," said Carlos.

"Call them and tell them to rendezvous with us," said HotShot.

Carlos did as he was told, wondering if they were ever going to get home and in one piece.

Meanwhile Alexis was clinging to Jetfire as he continued to fend off Starscream's attacks. Unfortunately a particularly ferocious thrust caused a deep wound in one of Jetfire's wings with the StarSabre. Jetfire crashed heavily to the ground with a cry of pain.

"Jetfire!" Alexis cried as he cradled her with one hand and his wing with the other.

"It's just a scratch," said Jetfire staggering to his feet. Starscream landed triumphantly next to Megatron who had finally managed to climb out of the pit. Jetfire bravely stood his ground. But suddenly he was hit with a burst of laser fire from behind by Demolisher who had just appeared. Jetfire fell to his knees, bent over in pain.

"Finish him Starscream," Megatron said smiling nastily. But he had momentarily forgotten Optimus who had just climbed out as well and who shot at Demolisher. Demolisher yelled and clutched at his hand. Then several things happened at once.

Hoist appeared over a ridge and in a moment had launched the SkyBoom Shield. Starscream charged with the StarSabre high over his head. Jetfire, wounded, tossed Alexis to Optimus who caught her and faced Starscream. Starscream was just bringing the Sword down when Optimus caught the Shield. There was a deafening boom and a brilliant flash of light as the Sword hit the Shield.

Before Starscream could recover, Optimus shoved with the Shield, sending him staggering back. Megatron growled seeing Starscream at a disadvantage and so snatched the Sword off him and shoved him out of the way.

"Must I do everything myself, Starscream?" said Megatron advancing on Optimus.

A roar of engines, made everyone pause, it was HotShot and Sideswipe being pursued by Wheeljack and Thrust. The three Minicons could also be seen racing along.

"Optimus, we've got them," yelled HotShot.

"Red Alert, activate the Warpgate" yelled Optimus into his comm.. as he leaped back to let Jetfire grab hold of him.

Megatron lunged forward yelling _**"Prime!"**_ as the Autobots warped out of view meaning the Sword sliced through empty air. Megatron's curses could be heard throughout the valley.

_Author's note. What is Optimus's reaction when they get back to base? Find out next time, until then._


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's note. I know I've called Smokescreen Hoist but I'm just going to go with it._

_Suggestions are welcome._

_Enjoy and please review._

Alexis knew she and the boys were in trouble the moment they arrived at the base. Optimus wasn't normally stern with them, but they had been in severe danger. Megatron was right, they were in for it. And when she thought of poor Rad, she knew they deserved it.

Optimus was cradling her in one hand as he held the Skyboom Shield in the other. They were in the Warp Gate Room and to her relief all the Autobots had made it back. Hoist stepped forward and took the Shield off of Optimus. Optimus bent down to hep Jetfire back to his feet.

"Ah, it's nothing Optimus," said Jetfire as Scavenger stepped forward to support him. Red Alert came rushing in and took Jetfire's other side.

"Is anyone else injured?" Red Alert asked the room at large.

"Megatron got Rad," said Carlos who had just climbed out of Sideswipe with Rad who looked dazed but was able to stand now.

At Carlos's words, Hotshot cried out in alarm and scooped Rad up into his arms. With light fingers, he ran them over Rad's body checking for injuries. Rad tried to protest that he was fine, but flinched when his back was touched.

Hotshot very carefully unzipped the back of Rad's jumpsuit and gently opened it out to reveal several large purple bruises on Rad's back. Alexis gasped in horror and Carlos winched.

"You need bed rest," Red Alert said, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Once I'm done with Jetfire, I'll examine you more closely and then heal you."

Red Alert and Scavenger took Jetfire away in the direction of the Med Bay. Alexis heart went out to the big shuttle as his wounds sluggishly bled energon. Optimus now turned towards Sideswipe and said.

"Sideswipe, take Rad to the kids room and settle him. Make sure he lies on his front. I'm going to have a word with Hotshot, Carlos and Alexis in the Rec Room," He said the last part in a stern voice.

"Yes sir," said Sideswipe and he carefully took Rad into his arms and set off. Optimus started walking towards the Rec Room with Blurr in tow. Hotshot quickly scooped up Carlos and followed. The Minicons also hurried after them.

Once they reached the Rec Room, Optimus set Alexis down on a table. Hotshot did the same with Carlos and then went to stand behind the table facing Optimus. Optimus wasn't looking at any of them.

"Hotshot," he said slowly. "Please explain to me why the kids were on their own?"

Hotshot took a deep breath and then he spoke.

"We had an idea about retrieving the Minicon. They would find it while I drew the Decepticons away."

"It wasn't Hotshot's idea," Alexis piped up. "It was ours and we convinced him to go along with it."

"Yeah, don't punish him," said Carlos.

"I thought they would be safe with their Minicons," Hotshot said as though Alexis and Carlos hadn't spoken.

"It was my fault that they were in danger, sir."

Ignoring the kid's protests, Optimus, who still wasn't looking at them, spoke.

"I'm disappointed in you Hotshot, you should have known better."

"Yes, sir," Hotshot replied, his voice steady, though his face was twisted in shame.

"I'm putting you on restriction for the time being."

"No," Alexis and Carlos cried as Hotshot hung his head.

"It was our fault," Carlos yelled.

"Be that as it may, kid," said Blurr quietly. "It was Hotshot's responsibility to watch you."

"Optimus," pleaded Alexis. "Please look at us."

He did, turning slowly, cold disappointment in his optics. Alexis and Carlos flinched back slightly from his graze.

"How could you be so foolish?" he asked not raising his voice but the tone was still clear.

"We have done our best to protect you, why did you risk your selves in such a fashion."

"We just wanted to help," Alexis said, knowing how hollow her words sounded.

"Help? Kids you almost got yourself killed, how would that have helped us? How could we have lived with our selves if anything had happened to you?"

Optimus's voice had risen.

"What would we have told your parents if Megatron had taken you? How could I explain to them that I had failed to protect you?

Optimus brought his hands to his optics.

"Rad got hurt, kids do you understand?"

"Yes," Alexis choked out as tears welled in her eyes.

Optimus turned away from them and when he spoke, his voice was low again.

"You're grounded. And you are banned from further missions. Hotshot, take them to their room."

With that, Optimus left the room, Blurr following, though he sent them a sympathetic glance. Alexis burst into tears as Carlos put his arm around her, his face twisted in misery. Without a word, Hotshot picked them up and carried them away.

Later on.

Alexis sobbed into her pillow, clutching the blankets around her. Optimus was right, Rad had got hurt, Hotshot was on probation and now Megatron would want revenge.

"Hey, Alexis," Carlos said softly below her. "Don't cry, it'll be alright."

"It was my idea in the first place," said Rad from below Carlos. "It's my fault this happened."

"He was so disappointed," Alexis said tearfully. "And I'm the one who made Megatron angry, if it wasn't for me you wouldn't have been hurt."

"If it wasn't for you, that Minicon would be in Megatron's hands," Rad said fiercely. "And it was mine and Carlos's idea about the flares so don't blame yourself for that and especially don't blame yourself for what happened to me, it's only a few bruises."

"It may only be a few bruises this time, but what about next time?" Alexis asked, trying to dash away the tears from her eyes.

"Alexis," Carlos said softly. "I hate to say it, but it's not really us Megatron's mad at. We've put you in danger."

"No you haven't," Alexis said forcefully, her voice rising. "I don't care if Megtron comes after me just as long as he doesn't hurt you, that's what frightens me."

Alexis buried her face again, as more tears flowed from her eyes. But there was a soft hiss, as their door slid gently opened and someone came in. That someone came over to their bunks and bent down to put a large metal hand carefully on Alexis.

"There is no need for you to be afraid; I will ensure Megatron does not touch any of you."

"Optimus?" Alexis choked, raising her head to stare into the Autobot leaders face. His face had its normal kind expression again. Alexis flung her arms around his hand, hugging him tightly. With his other hand, he gently stroked her back as she sobbed.

"Kids, I'm sorry I lost my temper," Optimus said gently. "I care so much for all of you, I don't know what I would do if you got hurt."

"We know Optimus," said Rad. "And we're truly sorry."

"Yeah, man, we know how lucky we are," said Carlos.

"I know you do kids," Said Optimus as he raised Alexis up and carefully hugged her. "Ever since you were placed in my care, the other Autobots and I have come to see you as our own."

"Oh Optimus," said Alexis as she smiled up at him, no longer crying. "I love you and all the others."

"Alexis's has summoned it up," said Rad laughing.

"Optimus," said Carlos. "Do you have to punish Hotshot? It really wasn't his fault."

Optimus sighed gently.

"Perhaps I was too hasty. I'll take him off probation, though he will receive some punishment duty. And your punishment stills stands I'm afraid."

"We understand, we know we deserve it," said Alexis.

"Go to sleep now, we'll talk more in the morning" said Optimus as he tucked Alexis in. He did the same with Rad and Carlos, being extra gentle with Rad.

As he dimmed the lights and made to leave, Carlos spoke up.

"Hey Optimus, you don't have to mention this to Megatron do you? Cause he's just going to gloat the next time he sees us."

Optimus laughed, the sound uplifted the kid's spirits. They did like making their guardians happy.

"We'll see, kids. We'll see. Goodnight Alexis, Rad, Carlos."

And with that, he left and the kids settled down for sleep.

The next day.

Alexis's POV.

Alexis woke to the sound of someone calling and shaking her. She groaned, burying herself into her duvet, but said duvet was suddenly yanked off her. She glared at the culprit, Hotshot who was grinning madly at her.

"Wakey, wakey, Alexis, it's time to get up and get ready for school," he cried enthusiastically.

"Hotshot, it's too early" Alexis grumbled as she reluctantly stretched, and climbed out of her bed and down the ladder. The kid's bunks were set into the wall of their room; each bunk was high enough that the Autobot could insert their hands into, in case they needed to extract the kids from their beds.

Since all the rooms in the base were Transformer sized, it meant that the kid's room was humongous, to them at least. It contained a bathroom and a small kitchen as well as a study area. The kids, especially Alexis, had loved decorating their room, choosing furniture and posters. In fact, even after three months they were still doing it up.

Alexis sighed as she made her way over to the kitchen area to grab a bowl of cereal, while Hotshot woke the boys. After Megatron and the Decepticons had tried to kidnap them as they slept in their beds at their homes, thankfully their Minicons had held them off till the Autobots had appeared; Optimus had decided that it would be safer for them to live with the Autobots.

It hadn't been difficult for Rad as his parents had gone on a six month exploration expedition, leaving him with a relative, they were scientists. Rad had managed to convince his relative to let him go live with his 'friends'. Carlos on the other hand, coming from such a large easygoing family had just asked if he could bunk with Rad for a while, to which they had agreed, after Carlos promised not to get into trouble.

For Alexis it had been a bit more difficult. Before coming to the base she had just lived with her mum, but around a few months ago, her mum had become very ill. Alexis had been reluctant to move into the base, not wanting to leave her mum's side. The problem was only solved after RedAlert suggested that her mum move to a special clinic in order to get better. Alexis still didn't know how the Autobots had arranged that while keeping their identities a secret, the clinic was very far away.

Although Alexis was very grateful for what the Autobots had done, she feared she would have to leave, because though she loved her mum dearly and wanted to be with her, she couldn't bare the thought of leaving the boys and the Autobots fighting Megatron. But her brilliant mum had seen how torn she was and had told her to stay, where she could be with her friends. Besides which her mum hadn't wanted her school work to suffer which it probably would have as the clinic was very isolated.

So now she, Rad and Carlos were living happily with the Autobots, sharing their adventures in the quest to retrieve all the Minicon's. Alexis chuckled as she heard the boys groaning as they were awakened. It had taken them all a while to get to sleep because of the events if the day before.

"Hey, man do we really have to go to school today?" Carlos grumbled as he climbed down. Hotshot just grinned as he lifted Rad out and gently set him on his feet.

"Are you alright, Rad?" Alexis asked, concerned. Megatron had given him some horrible bruises.

"Yeah just a little stiff, RedAlert did a great job," Rad smiled tiredly, the Autobot Medic had treated Rad after dealing with Jetfire's injuries. The kids had been assured that Jetfire was fine and would be up in no time.

The kids had their breakfast, got dressed and retrieved their school bags. And then set off glumly towards the base entrance with Hotshot, who was still ridiculously cheerful. Their Minicons were also following in order to keep an eye on them while they were outside the base.

"Cheer up," he said as they dragged their feet. "You've only got a few more days of school left, then its holiday time."

"Why are you so cheerful," Carlos groused.

"Yeah, we all got into serious trouble yesterday," Alexis said, curiously.

Hotshot grinned.

"Well for starters we got the Minicon, whose name is Loosewire by the way, and you kids totally kicked Megatron's aft."

"We almost got _ours_kicked," Rad pointed out.

"_Almost,_" Said Hotshot, he shook his head slightly. "Sorry, I just can't get over it, the way Highwire and the others told it, it was very funny."

The kids laughed a bit at this. They reached the base entrance, Hotshot transformed and they piled in. Some they were speeding away from the base, hidden deep within the mountain.

"Hey dude, just out of curiosity, what would Megatron have done to us if he had caught us?" Carlos asked. "I mean he wouldn't really have killed us would he."

"No I don't think he would have," came Hotshot's voice. "But he would have punished you."

"How would he have punished us?" asked Alexis.

"Well," came Hotshot's voice again. "Let's just say Megatron is a very firm believer in corporal punishment."

"What," yelled Carlos as Rad and Alexis looked surprised. "You're saying he would have _spanked_ us? Dude that is so not cool."

"A huh, he's been known to do that to Younglings which is what you guys are in Transformer terms. You should be grateful Optimus doesn't believe in that."

"Trust us, we are," said Rad as Alexis and Carlos nodded fervently.

All too soon they had reached their school, where they could see Billy and Fred waiting near the school entrance. They all started to get out as Hotshot said.

"Take it easy Rad, RedAlert's orders"

"We'll make sure he does," said Alexis.

"Have a good day kids" Hotshot called as they moved away.

"Thanks, Hotshot," they all called as they waved and made their way over to where Billy and Fred were waiting.

Unbeknownst to the kids, their Minicons or Hotshot, someone was watching with the aid of a tapped into satellite.

"Yes that's right, enjoy your day children"

Megatron sat on his throne, silently fuming. He still couldn't get over what had happened the day before, when those children had somehow managed to get one over on him. And what's more thanks to that meddler Optimus Prime, they had got away with it.

"Insolent little brats" he growled as he watched them say goodbye to the Autobot Hotshot and head off into their learning centre. And of course their disguised Minicons were with them, and would remain close by until the brats were finished for the day and one of the Autobots collected them.

Megatron did give a slight sneer at this, the children weren't permitted to go anywhere alone for fear of being captured and held hostage. He hoped that really riled the children, so that they would disobey and run off, where he could easily take them. He doubted Prime really had it in him to discipline them properly, Prime was ridiculously_understanding_ and _forgiving_.

If they were _his_ charges, they'd never dare disobey and if they did, would quickly find themselves over his knee. It was the only way to deal with Younglings; he admitted he didn't really know about Sparklings, they were a Femmes area. Not that he was about to start adopting Younglings, especially human ones. He had enough trouble with the likes of Cyclonus and on occasion Starscream.

Speaking of those two, both had come up with plans to kidnap the children and both had failed. Cyclonus's one had involved taking two idiot young boys who had been following the first three kids and holding them, till the Autobots arrived. The brilliance of this plan had been Megatron would hide then capture the other kids and their Minicons and then demand the Autobots hand over their Minicons. It had almost worked but one of the little brats had jabbed Megatron with an electrical shot causing him to drop most of his hostages and the plan had went downhill from there. He still blamed Cyclonus for his stupidity especially as he had been no help what so ever, having been shot down.

Starscream's plan had had more merit, kidnap the children when they were vulnerable in their homes and take them straight to the moon base. One reason the plan failed was because the kids lived in a populated area and neither the Decepticons nor the Autobots wished the other humans to learn of their existence. Prime because he didn't want to risk more lives and Megatron because, well he'd discovered life was somehow much simpler if you didn't involve the natives of an alien planet.

This meant that stealth was vital and only Wheeljack, Starscream and Cyclonus could really take part, Demolisher stood out far too much as did Megatron and Thrust talked too much. Unfortunately the kids Minicons had been guarding them and when they tried to take the kids the Minicons had spirited them away and then held the Decepticons off until Prime and the others arrived. It was just too difficult trying to stop the Minicons escaping and then trying to fight them while keeping the noise to a minimum so as not to alert any humans.

After that Prime had decided to adopt the kids, making them his charges to ensure their safety. Which meant the kids seemed to come on just about every mission, but until yesterday, hadn't been allowed anywhere near the Decepticons. Megatron gave another low growl; thinking about the mission again had reminded him of what those kids had done and especially that of that _girl._

Oh, he was going to make sure _she_ in particular paid for that. And he was going to get hold of them and punish them till they begged for mercy and swore obedience. He'd probably be doing Prime a favour; they certainly wouldn't disobey after he had dealt with them. Because of course he'd return them, after he received a few Minicons in exchange, he didn't want _his_base over run with whiny brats.

But of course how to get hold of them? He gave a small mental shrug; the opportunity would present itself in due course. Till then he was just going to have to bide his time.

_Author's note. _


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's note. Remember, suggestions are very welcome. Any ideas for chapters especially the next one, I'd be very glad to hear, thanks._

_Suggestions welcome._

_Enjoy and please review._

"Hey Billy, hey Fred," Alexis greeted as she, Rad and Carlos ran up to the tow boys waiting for them. Fred as usual had a packet of crisps.

"Hey Alexis," he said digging his hand into the packet.

"Hey, guys," said Fred before asking eagerly. "Did anything happen this weekend?"

"Dude, did it ever," said Carlos. "It was totally big, man."

Before Billy or Fred could say anything, the school bell rang.

"We'll tell you later, at lunch," said Alexis and the five of them headed off for their classes.

The morning past and eventually it was lunch time. They all went outside to enjoy their lunch in the sun, where it was also more private. As they settled down to eat, Fred asked.

"So what happened?"

They explained how they'd been with Hotshot, searching for the Minicon but after searching for over an hour, the kids came up with the idea of splitting up.

"You know dude, how if one teams finds it, the other team knows like, almost straight away," explained Carlos. "So we thought, if Hotshot could distract the Decepticons, _we _could get the Minicon."

"So that's what we did, Hotshot let himself be chased while we got the Minicon out of this gorge. But then," said Rad, his expression turning into a grimace.

"Megatron found us," Alexis said quietly.

"What?" both Billy and Fred yelped, Fred actually falling off his seat.

"Oh my God, did he get you, did he hurt you?" Fred said whimpering on the ground. Billy snorted.

"Fred, you dumbass, he obviously didn't if they're here."

"Well he almost did," Rad admitted. "See he had us cornered and was going to take the Minicon from us"

"Was he going to take you back to his base?" Billy asked eagerly as Fred picked himself up.

"No," said Carlos rolling his eyes. "He thought it'd be funnier to leave us to get punished by Optimus, that guy really has a thing for punishment."

"So he took the Minicon from you" asked Billy sitting himself down on the bench again.

"Nah, he was too busy gloating to notice me and Rad take out our flares and give them to Alexis, she was the one holding the Minicon," said Carlos. "And that's when things really got serious."

Billy and Fred were on the edge of their seats, hanging on to Rad, Carlos and Alexis's every word.

"Alexis was the one holding the Minicon, so Megatron was demanding she hand it over," said Rad, smiling at his friends' expression of excitement.

"What happened?" they whispered. Alexis gave a shy smile.

"I threw the flares straight in his face"

"Wow," they gasped, in awe at her boldness, they didn't think they could do that to the very large scary mech.

"I ran for it, while Rad and Carlos tried to free Perceptor from Leader-One but they Megatron lashed out and hit Rad," She said looking sorrowfully at Rad.

"He got you?" gasped Fred and he nearly fell off his seat again, he was only prevented from doing so by Billy.

"He just whacked me and I hit a big rock, but I've just got a few bruises," said Rad shrugging, he didn't think much about it, after all compared to the injuries the Autobots received, his was nothing.

"Oh man," said Billy rubbing his head. Carlos grinned, saying.

"It was cool dudes, I just took Rad and ran off while our Minicons gave Thrust a beat down, he'd been trying to catch us. We almost had it when Wheeljack found us but then Hoshot and Sideswipe came and saved the day."

Alexis smiled at Carlos's casual words, even though she had not been there, Carlos had revealed how scared he had been last night before they went to sleep. She picked up the tale.

"I tried to out run Megatron but he eventually cornered me," she gave a small shiver remembering. "He was going to torture me then take the Minicon."

Billy and Fred had looks of horror on their faces, while Carlos and Rad looked grim.

"But then Optimus showed up and saved me, he and Megatron started fighting."

Billy and Fred gave a cheer.

"Good old Optimus"

Alexis went on to explain how Jetfire had rescued her and the ensuring fight with Starscream, which resulted in Jetfire getting injured. But it had all turned out alright, Hoist had tossed Optimus the SkyBoom Shield, thus protecting Jetfire and they had all warped back to base. Billy and Fred were totally in awe by this point.

"Wow, that was awesome," said Billy, while Fred nodded fervently. The rest of lunch past smoothly, and so did the rest of the school day. As they left the school building with their disguised Minicons, Billy said.

"You guys want to head into town, there's a new sundae flavour at the ice-cream parlour?"

"Can't, sorry dudes," Carlos sighed. "We're grounded, man."

"What?" cried Fred horrified. "But you'll miss the new sundae."

"We'll be able to try it another time," said Alexis. "Considering how much danger we were in, we got off pretty lightly."

Carlos shuddered and Rad winched, remembering what Hotshot had said about Megatron and _his_ views on punishment. They said goodbye to Billy and Fred and walked over to where Blurr was waiting, the Autobots took turns driving the kids. As they got in and strapped themselves in, Carlos asked.

"Dude is this really necessary?"

"Yes it is Carlos or hadn't you noticed whose over on the other side of the road," came Blurr in a firm voice.

The kids spun to stare out the window in time to see a totally black car with tinted windows drive slowly passed them. Even though it was a car, it still gave off a menacing aura.

"Wheeljack," Rad whispered, while Carlos groaned.

"Aw man, Megatron has his goons watching us, we're never going to be able to do anything ever again," he grumbled.

Alexis watched as the black car disappeared, it was funny but Megatron was only focused on them and not on Billy and Fred at all. She frowned, sure they didn't have as much do to with the Autobots as they did but it seemed like a snub. On the other hand, it meant Billy and Fred weren't in any danger which was a very good thing.

"Is Jetfire better?" asked Rad.

Blurr gave a snort.

"He's as annoying and as enthusiastic as ever so yes, he's fine."

The kids laughed. They saw nothing more of Wheeljack, or indeed of any other Decepticon as Blurr drove them back to base. Once they were safe within the walls, they all got out of Blurr allowing him to transform. With a nod to the kids and their Minicons, he marched away.

The kids set off for their rooms, the rules of their guardians were that they did their homework straight away, then some chores and then had the rest of the evening free to spend with their guardians. Once they reached their room they set their stuff down and got to work.

While they were doing their homework, Highwire, Grindor and Sureshock went off to do their own thing as they had done their job of protecting the kids. As Rad and Carlos busily got on with their work, Alexis sat twirling a pen thoughtfully. Usually she got started right away and was normally finished first. But today she was distracted.

"Hey, you okay Alexis?" Carlos asked looking up from his work. Alexis sighed.

"I was just thinking, I know Optimus said he forgave us, but he was really upset. I was just wondering, is there anything we can do to make it up."

The boys paused to ponder the question. Alexis had raised a good point; they needed to do something to please Optimus and the others. But what could they do?

"We can all work harder at our chores and do everything the Autobots ask us," suggested Rad. Carlos chuckled.

"Would that include referring to Jetfire as 'Commander SuperCool?"

Alexis and Rad burst out laughing, remembering one of Jetfire's ridiculous suggestions.

"Well maybe we won't go _that_ far," Rad chortled. "But seriously, we should make a bigger effort."

"Hey I know," Carlos said excitedly. "Why don't we research possible Minicon locations? Remember the one we found in the Sahara? There had been legends about it and that's how the Autobots found it."

"Carlos that's a brilliant idea," cried Alexis. "It can be a lovely surprise for Optimus and the others once we find something."

Having settled on their plan, the kids set back to work with great enthusiasm, meaning in no time at all had finished. Quickly tidying up their room, they raced from the room to do their other chores.

"Well kids I'm pleased to see you taking your duties seriously," said Scavenger with a smile as he watched them enthusiastically clean the Minicons. "Unlike some I could mention" he said sternly as he glared at Hotshot and Sideswipe who were lounging around.

"What?" exclaimed Hotshot seeing Scavenger's glare. "We've been working all day."

"So have the kids," Scavenger said pointedly.

"They've been at _school,_" groused Sideswipe, hating feeling guilty.

"Which is very important," came a voice from the door.

"Optimus," chorused the kids in greeting. Optimus smiled down at them.

"I'm glad to see you kids working so hard, are you doing well in school?"

"Yes Optimus," replied Carlos as he scrubbed the new Minicon Loosewire who was blue and green. Scavenger and Optimus gave approving nods and then Optimus said.

"I was thinking kids; we had a pretty stressful day yesterday so why don't we all watch a movie while we eat our meal later. What do you say?"

Optimus laughed as they all gave cries of delight, he loved seeing them happy. Since they were now a family Optimus liked them all to have their evening meals together, in order to bond more.

After the kids had finished, they along with the Autobots and Minicons settled down to watch a film while they ate their meal, the Autobots and Minicons of course consuming Energon. When the kids had finished eating they settled on different Autobot laps and relaxed. Rad was on Hotshot's, Carlos on Jetfire who was completely better and Alexis was on Optimus's.

Optimus smiled down at his adopted daughter and also caught the optic of RedAlert who gave him a knowing look as he surveyed Optimus's adopted sons. Optimus smiled even more, none of them could have even imagined how much they would gain by coming here. Seeing the kids like this, he knew his views regarding discipline were correct, there was no need to reduce the Younglings to sobbing beaten wrecks. This is what Megatron would do if he ever got his hands on them.

Optimus scowled slightly, Megatron had once captured a young solider called Bumblebee and had taken him over his knee and had hit him till he couldn't sit down for several solar cycles. Optimus still burned about that incident. But now wasn't the time to dwell on the past, Bumblebee had recovered and the kids were safe. Optimus relaxed, gently stroking Alexis as everyone enjoyed themselves.

For the next couple of days the kids did their best to please their guardians, working hard in school and at their chores. They did not try to sneak off with Billy and Fred as the Decepticons still stalked them whenever they left the safety of the base. But what Optimus and the other Autobots didn't know was that Alexis, Rad and Carlos were spending all of their spare time researching possible Minicon locations.

"Anything?" Alexis asked as she cooked a light meal for the three of them while Rad and Carlos sat at a computer. They shook their heads and Alexis turned but to the cooker, slightly disappointed but still hopeful.

"It's ready," she called a short time later and Carlos rushed to join her at the table. Rad indicated that he would join them in a moment. Rad stared at the screen, feeling slightly defeated. None of the leads they had found had led to anything despite how hard they had searched. But then he spotted something at the bottom of his search engine.

"The Jade shield of the Inca," he murmured. He clicked onto the site and started to read the information on the article. And the more he read, the more excited he became. There weren't any photos of what it looked like but there was an illustration of what it was supposed to look like. And though it looked exactly like a dormant Minicon, even the colours were right.

"Guys," he said, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice. They stared at him as he spun in his seat to face them, his face shining. "I think I've found one."

"A Minicon?" Carlos yelped jumping to his feet followed by Alexis who cried out.

"Where is it?"

"In the Western part of South America, in the rainforests of Peru," said Rad, shifting to allow them to see the article. "It was a priceless artefact that was lost about three hundred years ago. Archaeologists believe it is hidden in one of the many hidden temples in the jungles of Peru."

His eyes shone as they all stared at one another in delight at their discovery.

"It might take a bit of time to locate, but it's a lead, I'm sure Optimus and the others will be able to find it," said Rad proudly.

"And we're sure it's a Minicon?" said Carlos, checking the screen again. "It'd be awful to send them on a wild goose chase."

"Everything points to it being the real deal," Alexis declared, scrolling down all the relevant information.

"Come on," she said, grabbing their hands. "We have to tell Optimus about this."

They fairly charged through the corridors of the base. Hotshot leapt out of their way as they raced past.

"Whoa, kids, what's the rush?" he asked bemused as they sped down the corridor.

"We've got great news for Optimus," Alexis called over her shoulder.

Optimus stared in surprise as the kids raced into the control room where he and Jetfire were going over tactics. He took in their shining faces and knew something was up.

"Kids, what's going on?" he asked as they ran onto the outstretched hand he offered. Once they were on the table, Carlos immediately cried.

"We found one Optimus, we found a Minicon."

"What?" both Optimus and Jetfire exclaimed.

"How'd you do that?" asked Jetfire in disbelief.

"It was Alexis's idea, she thought we could research possible Minicon locations," explained Rad as Alexis blushed.

"I wanted to make it up to you Optimus," she said softly. "For making you worry when you've been so good to us. We thought this would be the best way. Are you pleased?"

In answer Optimus took them in his hand once again and gently hugged the three of them.

"Yes Alexis, I am very pleased, this is great news. So where is the new Minicon?"

They explained about Peru causing Optimus to look very thoughtful. Carefully setting the kids down, he pulled the appropriate file from the computer and he and Jetfire examined it. After a few minutes, Optimus turned back to the kids, his optics twinkling as he said.

"It looks like you're right kids, I'm sure that's a Minicon there, I'm very proud of you."

The kids beamed at his praise as Optimus became contemplative.

"However, it will obviously require quite a bit of searching; hopefully we'll be able to pick up a signal once we reach the location."

"At least you'll have a head start on the Decepticons," Alexis piped up.

"Yeah man. And maybe you'll find it before they even realise what you're up to," Carlos said enthusiastically.

Optimus smiled down at Carlos as he shook his head slightly.

"I'm afraid Megatron is bound to notice what we're up to but at least we'll have a head start. Call Scavenger and the others Jetfire, please."

"Right away boss," said Jetifire as he turned on the base comm.

"Kids while I'm very grateful for what you've done and have no problem with you helping us plan," he gave a small sigh before continuing. "I'm afraid you're punishment still stands and you will not be allowed to accompany us."

"We understand and we weren't expecting you to take us with you," said Rad. "Besides we've still got school tomorrow."

"Optimus, how are we going to get home if you guys are going to be away?" Carlos asked, remembering seeing Starscream shooting overhead as they had left school that day.

"I will send Red Alert to collect you at the usual time, then he can return if need be," replied Optimus.

"We can monitor you guys," Alexis suggested to which Optimus agreed. The rest of the evening was spent making plans. Rad, Carlos and Alexis were delighted to be included in them, and all three fairly glowed with pride as they were complemented on their discovery. They didn't mind not going, they were just concerned with regaining their guardians complete trust.

They went to bed that night, happy and content excited by the prospect of the nest day when they would be able to watch the Autobots retrieve the Minicon from the safety of the base.

_Author's note. What happens when the Autobots go for the Minicon, any ideas? Until next time._


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's note. With thanks to DJ Bunny who gave me the plot for this chapter, it was a big help. Warning, contains corporal punishment._

_Suggestions are very welcome._

_Enjoy and please review._

The next day

"Wow, I'm still can't believe it, you guys actually found a Minicon," Billy exclaimed while Fred looked on in awe.

"Yeah it's cool, man and Optimus and the others were totally impressed," said Carlos proudly as they walked out of the school building.

"Hey guys," Alexis said to Billy and Fred. "Optimus said you could come over if you like and keep us company."

"Awesome," said Billy as Fred gave a huge grin. They found Red Alert waiting for them and they all clambered in. Carlos glanced around the street but couldn't see any of the Decepticons. Almost as though he had read Carlos's mind, Red Alert said.

"They haven't shown up yet, we've appear to have gone unnoticed."

This made all the kids relax, they'd been worried the Decepticons would catch on pretty quickly.

"How's the search going?" asked Rad.

"Not bad, we've narrowed the location down so it shouldn't be more than an hour or so till we actually find it. Although if the Decepticons do turn up, it may be we've done all their work for them. And that might be the reason they haven't shown themselves."

"Don't say that," said Alexis. "You'll find that Minicon and get it home safely."

"Let's hope so Alexis" Red Alert replied as he continued to drive towards the base. Once there, the kids went with him to the Warp Room where he warped away to join the other Autobots. The kids wandered to the Control Room to watch the ongoing search. It was difficult at times to tell what was happening because of the thick jungle and its substantial vegetation.

"Look, a temple," Alexis cried in delight as the Autobots finally managed to break through the dense forest.

"The Minicon must be inside," Carlos said eagerly.

"Oh boy," Fred exclaimed as he munched a packet of dried nuts.

They watched as the Autobots managed to find an overgrown entrance to the temple and enter. Laserbeak remained outside, in case the Decepticons turn out which would make it easier for the kids to warn their guardians of danger. But the kids weren't worried; there had been no sign of the Decepticons so they were feeling pretty confident about the Autobot's chances. As the kids watched however, a console started beeping.

"Huh?" Rad said in surprise looking down and pressing a button. "There seems to be a problem at the front."

"That's where some of the Minicons were working, maybe there's a fault," Carlos said as Alexis looked worried.

"I'm going to check it out," she said firmly, rushing down a stairway built for Minicons to handle the transformer sized console that was very handy for humans.

"I'll come to," Rad said, rushing after her causing Carlos to glance at the screen before saying to the other two. "You guys keep an eye on things; we're going to check it out."

"Okay," Billy said, not bothered at all while Fred munched away.

The kids rushed through the corridors, they didn't know why but they had a bad feeling about this alarm. They took a shortcut through a ventilation system that was large enough to run at a half crouch. They emerged into a new corridor and quickly rushed into the room only to skid to a halt in horror.

The Minicons in this room were being chased and grabbed by several Decepticons who appeared to have blasted their way in. This included Cyclonus, Starscream, Demolisher and Wheeljack who had practically caught all of the Minicons who were beeping madly. They couldn't help it, they gasped in dismay which of course caught the Decepticons attention.

"Hey, it's those little punks," Cyclonus exclaimed as Demolisher said. "Didn't Lord Megatron say he wanted them?"

"Yeah," Wheeljack said, holding tightly onto two squirming Minicons.

"Run for it," cried Carlos and they tried to scatter but Starscream was already throwing himself in front of their exit.

They still tried to get away by getting under stuff but the Decepticons thwarted every attempt. Finally, Cyclonus grabbed Alexis and scooped her high in triumph. Rad was caught by Demolisher and finally Carlos by Starscream. With their bundle of Minicon and human prisoners, the Decepticons were rather pleased with themselves.

"Lord Megatron will reward us for this," Demolisher said with satisfaction.

"Oh boy, let's get back to base," Cyclonus said excitedly but Starscream said scathingly.

"We can't just Warp back, we need these."

"Oh yeah," Cyclonus said, taking something from Starscream before focusing on his human prisoner.

"Ahh," Alexis cried as Cyclonus roughly changed his grip on her and started attaching something to her neck.

"Hey, hold still," he demanded, giving her a squeeze to make her cooperate.

"What are you doing?" she cried as she felt a strange energy shoot down her body from the collar like thing around her neck.

"Doing you a favour," he replied as Demolisher and Starscream copied his actions. "Now keep quiet if you know what's good for you."

"Hey, let the Minicons go," Rad demanded, trying to free himself from Starscream's grip.

"Not a chance," Wheeljack said grimly as the tell tale hum of a Warp gate was suddenly heard.

The kids cried out but in a moment they were gone from the Autobot base.

"What's taking them so long?" Billy muttered as he and Fred watched Optimus emerge from the Temple with the Minicon.

Decepticon base

The kids yelped as they appeared in a chilly, dark place with the Decepticons who stepped off their Warp Gate platform. They seemed to feel their human prisoners were no threat and were more concerned with neutralising their captive Minicons. The kids were dumped onto a tall box while captors began attaching devices to the poor Minicons who were still beeping unhappily.

"Their enslaving them," Alexis exclaimed but before the boys could reply, there was an ominous groan from the box they were sitting on.

Before anyone could say anything, the box suddenly collapsed, worn away by the passage of time. The kids shrieked as they fell into a cloud of dust and disintegrated crate which seemed to completely cover them. They could hear the Decepticons exclaiming but Rad wasn't going to hang around for them to find them. Grabbing his friends' hands, he pulled them free of the debris and charged for a nearby hole, ignoring the shouts of the Decepticons.

They ran through the tunnel which had probably be caused by the crash landing of the original ship before coming to a halt as they emerged into a deserted corridor. They panted heavily, both from their run and the emotion of being captured.

"I don't believe this," groaned Carlos, hands on knees. "We've been captured by the Cons and in our own base too."

"At least they didn't get Billy and Fred," Alexis said before grimacing. "But those poor Minicons, we can't let them do that."

"No we can't," Rad said grimly. "But I think we'd better get our bearings first and then see if we can do anything for the Minicons."

They hurried along the corridor but heard footsteps up ahead so quickly ducked into a room. Since they didn't know if the Decepticon was going to come in the room, they rushed to the other side so they could hide. Most of the room was rather Spartan but there were some handy crates lying against a wall that were perfect for hiding.

Thankfully, the footsteps passed by their room and they breathed a sigh of relief, slowly emerging from behind the boxes.

"Dao, that was close," Carlos sighed, his breath coming out in a cloud.

"It's really cold here," Alexis said with a frown, rubbing her arms.

"Yeah, I still don't know where we are," Rad said slowly before noticing a bit of light above them. "Hey, is that a window?"

"I think it is," Alexis said with interest as Carlos climbed onto a random transformer sized screw, trying to get a better look.

"Eh, I can't see out of it," he complained before lunging for a slightly higher rusted piece of equipment, quickly climbing up.

"I don't believe this," he half yelled, staring out of the small, dusted up window. "Guys, you gotta come see this."

They scrambled up to join him and gasped at the sight.

"This isn't Earth," Rad said in awe as they watched the blue and green planet slowly rise from a grey, crater lined landscape."

"So we're...," Alexis began but couldn't finish.

"On the moon," breathed Carlos. "I don't believe this, this is incredible."

"So this is where the Decepticons have been hiding," Rad exclaimed, nose against the old window screen. "I don't believe it."

"_Believe it,"_ came a voice right behind them and they all yelped and spun around to find a Decepticon Minicon watching them.

"Where did you come from?" Rad exclaimed and the dark blue Minicon with light purple stripes on his middle and arms shrugged.

"_I'm not on duty at the moment so I decided to explore. What are you doing here?"_

"Dude, the Decepticons captured us and brought us here," Carlos quickly explained as Alexis added.

"Please don't tell anyone where we are."

"Yeah, Megatron will go crazy," Rad said earnestly as they all looked pleadingly at the Minicon.

"_Well...alright but I'd better take you somewhere else, this place is too exposed,"_ he finally said.

"Thank you," Alexis cried, climbing down before rushing over to give him a hug.

The Minicon seemed rather shocked but not displeased. He beckoned them to follow him and they did so, hurrying along the ancient corridor that was littered with dust and debris. As they ran, the kids realised just why they had funny collars, it was so they could breathe on the moon. Although it was strange that they weren't floating around, perhaps the Decepticons base had some sort of force field.

Just as they were rounding a corner, they suddenly confronted by Leader One who started back at the sight of them before barking.

"_Tailgate, what are you doing with them?"_

"_Nothing," _Tailgate said as Leader One took a step towards them.

"_They should be taken to Lord Megatron,"_ the Minicon said sternly, trying to grab the kids but Tailgate stepped in front of them.

"_Leave them be Leader One."_

"_Stand down Tailgate,"_ Leader One warned but when the Minicon didn't move, the leader of the Decepticon Minicons launched himself at Tailgate.

"_Get out of here,"_ Tailgate yelled at the kids who hesitated before obeying, running away while the two Minicons fought.

"Come on," Rad urged as they ran. "Let's find the Warp Room and get out of here..."

"Hey!" came a sudden voice and they screamed as a hand appeared out of nowhere and snatched them up. They'd been running right past a room that Wheeljack was coming out and now he had them in his grasp.

"So this is where you got to," he said sternly. "Lord Megatron wants a word with you three."

"No please, don't take us to him," Alexis begged but Wheeljack ignored them all.

He marched forwards, grimly carrying them to his leader. The kids struggled but they quickly subsided, knowing how futile it was. All they could do was slump in his hand as they waited to see Megatron who was highly unlikely to send them back home with nothing more than a stern word. To their dismay, virtually all the other Decepticons were in what looked like a Throne room, except for Tidal Wave but that wasn't really surprising.

"Ah Wheeljack," Megatron said with a small nod as the former Autobot approached. "I see you caught those little miscreants."

"Yes Megatron," Wheeljack said softly, bowing and offering the three children.

"So," Megatron began smugly as he held them within his massive purple hand. "I've finally got you within my power. You little brats have had this coming for a while.

"Quite right, lord Megatron," gushed Thrust, leaning forward eagerly. "Are you going to punish them now?"

"For what?" Rad demanded. "You guys kidnapped us, we didn't do anything."

"Hey, don't you backtalk lord Megatron," Demolisher said angrily as Megatron held up a hand.

"It's no consequence," the Deception leader said rather smugly. "All they do is add to their impending punishment, it's their choice whether they stop adding to it."

"And what have we done?" Carlos said hotly, gripping the fingers holding him tightly.

"You know very well what you've done," Megatron said in a cold tone, giving them a stern but intense look. "Especially you girl."

Alexis tried not to flinch as he directly looked at her but he wasn't finished.

"Not only did you defy me but you disobeyed Optimus," Megatron told them sternly. "I have no tolerance for disobedient children and if Optimus isn't capable of dealing with you, then I will."

"You're not our father," Alexis couldn't help but burst out.

"No but I assure you if I was, you'd never act out," he replied, a dangerous hint in his tone. "Not that I ever would bother with a bunch of human brats in my base, this is a serious business, not a youngling crèche."

"Yeah well, we've outsmarted you plenty of times," Carlos said vehemently, forgetting himself for a moment.

The Decepticons soldiers all made noises of disbelief, hardly able to believe Carlos had spoken back to Megatron like that. Megatron's optics narrowed and he made a low but deep growling sound. It suddenly occurred to the kids that hadn't been a smart move but Megatron just made them so angry that they couldn't help themselves.

"Indeed," Megatron said coldly. "Well in this case, I believe I have outsmarted both you and the Autobots."

With a slight smirk he said.

"Do you think we did not notice the Autobots efforts to find that Minicon? We did but since all of them were out, it occurred to us how wonderfully _unguarded_ your base was. Now why should we bother fighting for a single Minicon when we could go to your base and help ourselves to a selection?"

The Decepticons grinned and chuckled in triumph as the kids miserably realised they'd helped contribute to the Minicons capture. The Autobots had been so worried about the Decepticons showing up that they hadn't thought to guard their base better.

"Are the Minicons taken care of?" Megatron now asked as Starscream nodded.

"Yes sir, we got six in total."

He made a gesture and the captured Minicons came out of the shadows. They were obeying but they didn't look happy about it. Unfortunately, it seemed the Minicons programming forced them to obey whoever called themselves master over them. They still had a strange device on their bodies, obviously to keep them in line until they utterly accepted the situation they were in.

"Excellent," Megatron said, examining the Minicons with an even wider smirk. "You Minicons belong to me now and it's going to stay that way. Is that understood?"

The Minicons beeped an affirmative.

"They do not belong to you," Alexis couldn't help but exclaimed, completely outraged. "Their free beings and you should treat them with respect, not force them to remain with you."

"Foolish child," Megatron stated dismissively. "Minicons are nothing more than tools, they live to serve us; it's merely a question of how many you can gather."

"You're wrong and one day all the Minicons will be free and there'll be nothing you can do about it," Alexis shouted back at him but his face darkened and he barked.

"Silence!"

None of the kids said anything but they continued to glare at him.

"I'm going to deal with you little brats right now and we shall see if you're so mouthy afterwards."

He dumped them on the arm of his throne, before extending a hand out towards Thrust. The jet eagerly produced something long and thin before handing it to his leader. The kids watched as Megatron flexed what looked like a long black cane, the instrument making a swishing noise. They had no doubt what he was going to use it for.

"Such a shame you're too small for my hand," Megatron said cruelly, drinking up their tense expressions. "But I think this should do the trick."

"Oh it will, lord Megatron," Thrust assured him. "They'll never disrespect you again."

"Yes," Megatron said with a small smile. "Now..."

He brought his hand down onto the throne arm right next to the kids who jumped back but he wasn't trying to grab them. Instead, he positioned his open hand so that his smallest finger lay parallel to the armrest, the other fingers slightly curled as they lay on each other. The kids stared, a little unsure what he was doing until he said.

"Place yourselves into position children. Do it quickly and I might show a little mercy."

They glanced at each before obeying. They could not run away and they could not convince Megatron not to do this so they might as well save themselves some embarrassment. If only all the other Decepticons and captive Minicons weren't watching. Avoiding anyone's gaze, they approached Megatron's large hand and managed to lift themselves up and drape across the top finger, leaving their legs handing down his hand.

His thumb came down, pressing on their backs so that they couldn't escape. The kids clung tightly to his hand, knowing this was going to hurt a lot. They flinched as the cane was lightly tapped against their rears, Megatron appeared to be testing how fast and hard he could use it on them without permanent damage.

"Mm," Alexis mumbled very quietly, trying not to whimper in fear. The anticipation was killing her even though she knew the pain would probably be unbearable.

"S'Kay," Rad whispered to her. She offered him a weak smile before gritting her teeth.

There was a swish and then the cane connected, creating a tidal wave of pain that swept through their bodies. They all gasped in pain, the place where that cane had hit was a stinging line of agony and that was only the first hit. Just as the pain seemed to be decreasing rather than increasing, another hit landed in the same spot creating an explosion of intense agony.

"Hah, not so cocky now," Cyclonus said as the kids bodies trembled and arched each time they received a hit.

"Hmm," Demolisher agreed as Alexis let out a little scream of pain.

"Oh yes, give it to them lord Megatron," Thrust encouraged, almost dancing on the spot with glee.

Rad turned his head and saw Starscream and Wheeljack giving the jet a weird look. They obviously didn't think the punishment was_ that_ exciting. But he had no time to ponder this as another crack landed on his behind making him groan with the effort of not crying out. All three of them wished they were back safe with the Autobots, especially Optimus who would never allow anyone to hurt them in such a way.

They were in so much pain, their rears were on fire, they couldn't take much more of this...

"There," Megatron suddenly said, the caning had ceased. "Six of the best for you three."

The kids were panting heavily, gulping in air as they struggled to regain composure while tears ran down their cheeks. They were still slumped over Megatron's hand but they could barely move, the pain was that great. But then Megatron took hold of Rad and lifted him away onto the armrest, followed by Carlos.

However, Alexis was left across Megatron's hand and Megatron seemed to be raising the cane again.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Carlos cried, struggling to stand as his legs trembled violently.

"Your little friend is getting extra," Megatron stated as Alexis tried to struggle but was too weak to do so. "For defying me."

"Please, don't," Alexis couldn't help but beg, she was in such pain. Her legs were still in a spasm from it and she couldn't raise herself up.

"Leave her alone," Rad exclaimed, hands on knees as he physically pushed himself to his feet.

"Stay out of this," Megatron warned with a growl, preparing to hit Alexis again.

"No," Rad said defiantly, rushing forward and throwing him at Alexis's body, shielding her from the cane. She yelped in pain but a moment later, Carlos had managed to throw himself over Rad, doubly shielding their friend.

"Huh?" exclaimed Cyclonus in surprise.

"What are you doing?" Megatron demanded. "I told you to stay out of this."

"We're not letting you hurt her," growled Carlos, gripping Rad tightly. "You've already whipped us, that's enough."

"I will say what enough is," Megatron growled, taking hold of Carlos and trying to separate him from Rad. "Now let go or you will face extra."

"No," both boys snarled back as Alexis whimpered. "G-guys, I don't want you hurt."

"It's okay amiga," Carlos assured her as he grimly held on like a limpet.

"How dare you defy your master," Thrust exclaimed furiously. "Megatron sir, shock those two brats away from the girl."

"I will do what I chose, Thrust," Megatron said dangerously as Thrust backed quickly away.

Turning his attention back to the children, he said.

"Would you prefer I give all three of you another six of the best?"

"Yes," came the boy's reply followed by "No," from Alexis.

"Please," Alexis begged. "Don't give them more, you're not angry at them, it's me you want."

"Mmm," Megatron considered all three of them, lightly tapping the cane against his Throne.

But as the Decepticons watched, the kids started to lose their grips on each other. Carlos tried to cling with Rad doing the same but gravity was working against them and they didn't have the strength to keep standing. They were so determined to hold onto each other however that all three of them started to slip off Megatron's hand until they lay on the armrest.

"Are they offline?" questioned Demolisher, leaning forward to examine them.

"No," Megatron said slowly, giving them a slight nudge with his hand.

"Maybe that's enough, sir?" Wheeljack suggested, watching the screwed up faces of pain and limp bodies.

Megatron glanced at him before looking at the Minicons who looked like they wanted to intervene but couldn't. He then looked back at the kids who looked like they could easily slip into unconsciousness. He paused before withdrawing his hand from them.

"Very well, take them to outside the Autobot base, let Optimus find them, Starscream."

With a slight scowl at being ordered to do this, Starscream said.

"Yes sir."

He came forward and lifting them up into his hand. Just as he was heading for the exit, Megatron suddenly said.

"Do not forget children, I won't hesitate to repeat this if you step out of line again. I would stay in your base safe and sound from now on."

The kids didn't answer, none of them really felt up to it. They just felt overwhelming pain, anger and grief over their failure to help the captured Minicons. Now that Megatron wasn't threatening to continue caning them, their bodies could relax slightly. They couldn't stop trembling though; the shock of the pain was just too much.

"Why do I have to do this?" Starscream grumbled as he set coordinates for Earth. "Could have easily gotten Cyclonus or Demolisher..."

The Warp Gate hummed to life and a moment later, the kids felt a cool breeze blowing their hair. Starscream started marching forward with them but then paused. He looked down at them and appeared to be contemplating them before removing their collars, subspacing them. He continued on his way until he reached a spot that was near the Autobot base.

"Hmm," he murmured, gently placing them on a grassy mound. "You'd better stay out of sight for a bit, Megatron won't be so merciful next time."

"That was merciful?" Carlos said sarcastically but Starscream was already walking away.

"You alright?" Rad asked with a groan, wishing his backside wasn't aching so.

"Yeah," Alexis said, grimacing as they heard Starscream Warp away and the sound of running Transformer footsteps. The Autobots were coming for them.

"Kids," came Optimus's worried voice as he skidded to a halt beside them, dropping to his knees. "What happened?"

"They broke into the base and took the Minicons," Rad croaked. "We discovered them and they took us...to Megatron."

"What did he do?" Optimus asked as he gently picked them up, noting how they winced at this action.

"Caned us," Alexis said with a tremble. "For disobeying him...and you."

Optimus's free hand clenched into a fist, how dare Megatron presume to punish _his_ charges. He controlled his rage, now was not the time for it, he had some injured children to take care of. Cradling them to his chest, he said softly.

"It's alright, children, your home now. I'll take care of you."

"_Like I should have when I left you at the base_," he thought mentally as the kids snuggled into his warm armour. _"But I won't fail again and Megatron will pay for what he's done to them."_

_Author's note. What can the Autobots do to help the kids recover? Find out next time, until then._


	6. Chapter 6

_Author's note. With thanks to DJ Bunny for their great suggestions for this chapter._

_Suggestions are welcome._

_Enjoy and please review._

"There we go," Red Alert said in a soothing voice as he gently applied cooling gel strips to the kids abused backsides.

They all had a horrible, flaming red line which was oozing slightly. Megatron had struck the same place six times and done a lot of damage to that single line. It would take a while to heal and in the meantime, they'd suffer a lot of pain and stiffness. And that wasn't even the half of it, there was also the emotional anguish of being kidnapped from their own home, watching their friends be enslaved and then cruelly whipped.

Optimus burned with anger over the incident, even as he gently stroked their heads. They were lying on a medical berth on top of a blanket so that their sore bodies didn't have to experience any more discomfort than was necessary. The kids were much calmer than they had been earlier, making him marvel at how quickly they seemed to recover.

Deciding to distract them, he said.

"You'll never guess what we recovered kids."

"The Minicon?" Alexis said tiredly.

With a smile, Optimus said.

"Not just a Minicon, but a female Minicon."

This made them raise their heads in excitement, their lower back was too painful to raise. As Red Alert made a noise of caution, Carlos said.

"You mean it Optimus, a real Minicon Senorita?"

"Yes Carlos," Optimus chuckled. "Her name is Jadestone and she's very happy to have been rescued by us."

"Great, when can we see her?" Rad asked, wincing slightly as Red Alert applied another gel strip to his rear.

"Later, when you've rested and had something to eat," Optimus said gently. "Kids...I'm proud of you today, despite anything Megatron might have said."

As they looked at him, he said.

"You helped us find that Minicon and you stayed at the base when we asked and simply watched the monitor. And I know you did not deliberately place yourself in danger today, none of us could have foreseen what would happen. The only ones to blame for what happened today are Megatron and his Decepticons."

"Even though I made Megatron angry?" Alexis asked softly.

"It doesn't take much to make him angry," Red Alert said dryly, which made them giggle slightly.

"There is no truer fact," Optimus chuckled, before saying. "You were doing what you thought was right. Even though I grounded you for being alone in the first place, that is between us and nothing to do with Megatron. You defended yourself and that Minicon from Megatron, it is completely petty of him to hold a grudge."

"Too right," Carlos said heatedly. "He was going to give Alexis extra until we stopped him."

Optimus's face darkened but then he said.

"I'm proud of you boys for doing that; your actions saved her from injury and pain."

"We couldn't let him hurt her," Rad said seriously as Alexis flushed. "Besides, it seemed to sort of impress him or something, he told us he'd whip us too but when we told him to do it...he decided not to go through with it."

"Or maybe he was getting creeped out by Thrust," Carlos said darkly. "Dude, he was enjoying it more than Megatron and the other Decepticons put together."

"That Thrust is a piece of work," Red Alert stated grimly. "You'd do well to stay away from him."

"Don't worry, we will," Rad said seriously as the Red Alert now said.

"That's the best I can do for now kids. Once it's better healed, you can use some cream to soothe it."

"Thanks man," Carlos moaned, eyes squeezed shut as the whip mark suddenly burned.

Immediately, Red Alert was stroking his back, trying to help the young boy ride out the pain. Carlos gritted his teeth, trembling as the pain seemed to rise sharply before slowly teetering out. Panting slightly, he said.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Red Alert said quietly, as he helped them pull their trousers and pants back up.

"Thank goodness it's the weekend," Alexis now exclaimed, wincing with pain. "There's no way we could go into class tomorrow."

"You're telling me," groaned Carlos as Rad asked. "What about on Monday, think we'll be alright?"

"See how you feel on Sunday night," Red Alert advised, all the Transformers knew the days of the week by now. "If you can't move properly, then you'll just have to call in sick."

The kids grimaced; they enjoyed school and didn't want to miss too much of it. Furthermore, if they had too many sick days, it would start to look a bit odd and their teachers might try to investigate why. They'd rather have sick days for when they really were sick or if there was a real emergency of some sort.

"I want you kids to take this," Red Alert suddenly said, holding out a syringe full of liquid. "It's full of essential minerals, vitamins and other necessary elements for your development. You may take it with your dinner; it might help speed up your recovery."

"What does it taste like?" Rad asked, pulling a face as he was worried it would taste horrible, like medicines and health drinks generally did.

"I've no idea," Red Alert said with a wry smile, making the children groan.

"Aww dude, we've got to teach you about taste," Carlos cried, eyeing the mixture with distaste.

Red Alert just grinned before saying.

"Come on kids, time for dinner...I think Hotshot's been cooking."

They mocked groaned, Hotshot tended to come up with rather spectacular dinners for them. Since he was a Transformer, anything he made was huge and could end up lasting them quite a while. There was the time he made a massive bowl of jelly, dotted with fruit, chocolate and sweets...and they could have easily gotten into said bowl if they'd wanted to. Hotshot was still pretty proud of himself for that particular creation and he never missed an opportunity to make something else.

"What's he made this time?" Rad asked, hoping it was something tasty as he was starting to get very hungry.

"I believe its macaroni and cheese," Optimus said, chuckling as their faces lit up. Hotshot had only made this a couple of times but they'd enjoyed it both times so this was a very safe option for them.

"Awesome, I'm starving," Carlos said, trying to leap to his feet before hissing with pain.

"I'll take you," Optimus said gently, taking hold of Carlos and placing him against his shoulder before doing the same with Alexis and Rad.

"Thanks Optimus," Alexis said, sounding a little tired. "I think I'll need some hot milk before I go to bed tonight, I probably won't sleep well."

"Same here," Rad said and Optimus felt anger at Megatron once again. Before of their injuries, the kids weren't expecting to have a good night's sleep, quite the reserve.

"We'll make sure you're as comfortable as possible," Optimus said gently, lightly rubbing their backs. "Let's watch a film together, how does that sound?"

"Great, can we watch another Cybertronian one?" Carlos asked eagerly.

The kids loved the Autobots collection of films from Cybertron, it was so different and yet so similar to Earth films. There was romance, comedy, adventure, crime and so many other genres. Often, the bots did need to explain a few things, like references to Cybertronain objects, famous bots, pop culture and so on. Everyone had a good laugh and thoroughly enjoyed these movies, with the kids happily explaining anything their guardians didn't understand.

Their chosen Cybertronian movie went well, it was a romance which lead to a lot of questions of how relationships worked for Transformers. Optimus told them he had a mate back on Cybertron, called Elita One, with Smokescreen and Blurr offering the names of their mates as well.

"That special bot is still waiting for me," Jetfire declared modestly. "I've had a lot of partners but none have stood out."

This made the kids giggle as Scavenger rolled his optics, Jetfire loved boasting about his conquests. Sideswipe admitted he wasn't great with Femmes while Hotshot said he'd dated a few bots but hadn't really gotten close to one yet. Scavenger just shrugged and said his dating days were long behind him.

"Don't say that old friend," Optimus teased. "That special bot is out there somewhere."

"Sure they are," the old Mech said with a wry smile.

The kids laughed again before settling down to watch the rest of the film, eating their dinner as they did so. Despite Carlos's suspicions, the health drink Red Alert had created for them didn't taste all that bad. It wasn't great but it was no trouble to swallow it down although what they didn't know was that there was a very mild sedative in it.

"Time for bed I think," Optimus said gently as the kids began to yawn as soon as _Oil and Love _was over.

"Yeah," Rad said tiredly as Optimus lifted him and Carlos up. Hotshot took Alexis and with the rest of the Autobots staying quiet, exited the room.

"It was a good movie," Alexis said, very tiredly as she half curled up in Hotshot's hands.

"Yeah, it wasn't bad," Hotshot agreed. "We'll watch an action one next time, how's that sound."

She giggled, saying. "Cool."

Once they arrived at the kids' quarters, they encouraged the kids to wake up long enough to get changed into their pyjamas, as well as brush their teeth. Once that was taken care of, Hotshot carefully lifted them into their bunk beds, setting them on their sides so they'd be more comfortable. Optimus then gently tucked them in, stroking their heads and trying to lull them into sleep.

"If you need anything, don't be afraid to call," he told them gently, each bunk had a call button in case there was a problem.

"Right," Carlos said sleepily, already burying his face in the pillow.

"Goodnight, my dears," Optimus said softly as they steadily drifted off, barely wincing with discomfort.

He waited until they had fallen asleep before he and Hotshot left.

"How are they?" Sideswipe asked worriedly as Optimus and Hotshot returned.

"As well as can be expected," Optimus said gravely. "They are going to suffer for the next few days and I have no doubt they will have trouble getting over it even after that."

Hotshot growled, balling his fists as he exclaimed.

"Those fragging Cons, what I wouldn't give to whip them!"

"You're not alone," Jetfire declared, punching a fist into his palm. "I say we teach them a little lesson, teach them to miss with our kids."

"You think Megatron won't be expecting that?" Scavenger said grimly. "He knows we'll be after revenge and he's going to enjoy every moment of it."

"Are you saying that we shouldn't do anything?" Hotshot demanded furiously.

"I didn't say that," Scavenger said calmly, looking right at Hotshot. "But if we go in guns blazing, Megatron will simply use that to his advantage."

"He's right," Blurr took the opportunity to say. "You might not like it Hotshot but it's the truth."

Hotshot growled but he was forced to concede the point. Sideswipe meanwhile asked.

"So what are we going to do?"

"We're going to make sure that they never do something like that again," Optimus stated firmly. "But we're also going to keep calm helms in the next battle. I know how tempting it will be to try to beat them to scrap but for the kids' sake, we must be better than that."

"Right," Hotshot said before adding. "I just don't want Megatron getting away with what he's done."

"He isn't going to get away with it," Optimus said with a slight growl.

As it was, they didn't have to wait very long as an alarm went off before dawn. Instantly, the Autobots mobilised except Red Alert stayed behind to ensure that the kids were safe and didn't worry about their missing guardians. This time, the Minicon was on the other side of the planet, meaning it was evening time when they Warped to their destination. It was a mountainous forest with plenty of steam rising from it.

"Spread out," Optimus murmured quietly, striding forward in search of the Decepticons. He was going to have a word with Megatron before he even thought about the Minicon, which was Sideswipe's job for this hunt.

Optimus's parental instincts were on high alert, he'd checked on the kids several times during the night and while they had been sleeping each time, they'd also been tossing and turning a lot. They'd also been grimacing and making small noises with discomfort as they'd slept, they were likely to wake up feeling very sore.

"Prime!" a voice suddenly yelled and he lunged out of the way to avoid a blast right where he'd been about to walk over.

There was laughter as he glared up at Megatron standing on a ledge above him.

"Megatron," he growled as his nemesis said.

"Fancy running into you, Optimus."

Optics glinting with malice, he added.

"I don't see any sign of those children...a little sore perhaps?"

Optimus clenched his fists furiously, optics sparking with anger. Megatron grinned before saying.

"Now Optimus, don't look at me like that. No doubt the children have never experienced such a chastisement and it would have seemed overly harsh to them. But I bet you can't deny the result it produced."

"And what result would that be?" Optimus asked coldly.

Megatron smirked before saying.

"Their obedience and lack of back talking. Swift discipline is the key Optimus, if you don't have that, then all you have is a disobedient, unruly rabble."

"There's more to being a parent and leader than discipline Megatron," Optimus stated firmly. "There's trust and the knowledge that you would never deliberately hurt them. My methods of discipline work just fine with them."

"You're too soft Prime," Megatron said scathingly. "Those children will continue to disobey and get themselves into danger and trouble. And my patience for their antics grows thin."

"Stay away from them Megatron," the Autobot leader said fiercely. "If you hurt them again and you will regret it."

"And just what will you do?" the Decepticon leader taunted.

"Maybe I'll do to you just what you did to them," Optimus said in a low voice causing Megatron to look at him in astonishment before snarling.

"I'd like to see you try, Prime."

Optimus smiled behind his mask before lunging at his opponent.

Meanwhile, his men had also found the other Decepticons and were currently engaging them. Hotshot had come into contact with his former partner Wheeljack and they were fighting hand to hand.

"That monster you call a leader is going to pay for what he did to those kids," Hotshot snarled as he lunged at the other Mech.

"He's not a monster," Wheeljack defended coldly, dodging a punch.

"He whipped three innocent kids," Hotshot growled, glaring at his former friend as they paused for a break.

"They're hardly innocent," Wheeljack stated to which Hotshot said. "They're not soldiers and their still kids."

"Maybe but they knew what they were getting into," the former Autobot said as they started to circle one another. "Megatron could have done worse but he didn't. He only gave them six hits; it might have been tough on them but nothing they couldn't handle."

"And what about Alexis?" Hotshot shot back. "He was going to give her twice as many hits as the boys."

"He was...but didn't in the end," Wheeljack said quietly. "Their bravery impressed him and he relented, he took into account that more than six might have been too harsh."

"All those kids want is to save the Minicons," the yellow Autobot declared as he tensed for the coming fight. "And you guys are enslaving them, how can you justify that?"

"We do what we must," Wheeljack answered. "We're fighting for our freedom and if we need to use the Minicons to do that, then so be it."

As Hotshot growled, Wheeljack added.

"You might hate Megatron Hotshot but he's not the cold Sparked monster you all think he is."

Hotshot just scoffed at this statement, causing his former friend to say coldly.

"_He_ could have left me to die in that fire. No one would have known any different but instead, he saved me and brought me to a Decepticon medic."

Hotshot gaped at him, stammering. "Wheeljack...I-I..."

"He didn't demand that I join the Decepticons in gratitude for his actions," Wheeljack said loudly, talking over Hotshot. "I could have gone free but I chose to stay and serve him. I got the training I needed and he never acted like I owned him anything. All he wanted was for me to take my oaths with a clear processor and Spark."

As the two stared at one another, Hotshot said quietly.

"I tried to come back for you; I would have run through those flames if I could have. But they wouldn't let me; they thought that you were already gone and that there was no point in me sacrificing myself for nothing."

Wheeljack scoffed and said. "It doesn't matter; my loyalty is towards Megatron and the Decepticons now. He will unite Cybertron at long last."

"Yeah and make half of it his slaves," Hotshot retorted. "You're telling me he isn't planning that?"

"If that's what it takes," Wheeljack said quietly as an explosion sounded near them.

They both jumped back, glared at each other one last time before rushing to help their comrades. It was going to be the start of a long and brutal battle

The Autobot base

"Awww, man," Rad groaned heavily as he slowly woke up, his lower back was aching so badly. "Damn."

He was lying on his front and as he tried to move, pain shot through him. He grimaced, gritting his teeth as he held onto the pillow while waiting for the pain to pass. Frankly, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to move at all, his lower regions were just cramping up with pain. Glancing up, he saw the call button and hesitated, he didn't want to disturb the Autobots. Then again, he'd need to relieve himself soon and couldn't bear to wait to he pressed it.

In no time at all, Red Alert came marching in and straight over.

"How are you feeling?" he immediately questioned.

"Alright but got awful cramps," Rad explained, pain and tiredness lacing his tone.

"It's alright, I've got you," Red Alert said gently as he lifted the young boy out of his bed. "The three of you can relax today and not have to worry about anything."

"Thanks Red," Rad said gratefully before bashfully saying that he needed to go.

Red Alert kindly took him over to the little bathroom and made sure he could manage before giving him some privacy. Once he was finished, Red Alert scooped him up again and asked.

"Are you hungry?"

"Sort of," Rad admitted. "But I'm not sure if I feel like eating anything."

"You can have a drink for now," the Autobot Medic suggested, as he took Rad over to some beanie bags and laid him on one.

While Red Alert busied himself getting Rad some orange juice, the others began to wake up.

"Rise and shine," Red Alert said as Carlos and Alexis moaned with sharp cramps in their back and legs.

"Oww...oww," Alexis complained. "I didn't expect it to be this bad."

"Don't worry," Red Alert assured her, handing Rad a glass of juice before going over to them. "I'm going to run a hot bath for you all, it should soothe those cramps."

"Ooh, a bath would be so good," Alexis agreed as she and Carlos were lifted out.

"Too right," Carlos agreed, rubbing his back thighs furiously. "Stupid Megatron."

Red Alert chuckled as he helped them both use the bathroom before settling them on the beanie bags with drinks. He then went over to the kids bath which was big enough for all three of them, part of it could be used for swimming. The other part was very shallow with hollows for them to sit and relax in. Red Alert placed a barrier between this part and the swimming pool and started to fill up the bath with water.

Soon steam was rising as he filled the relaxing area with hot water, adding some oils which the kids could rub into their aching muscles. As he did this, Rad asked curiously.

"What are the others doing?"

Red Alert glanced at them before saying.

"They're on another Minicon hunt."

"What?" they cried but Red Alert quickly said.

"This is nothing for you to be alarmed or concerned about. Optimus left me to take care of you and that's what I'm going to do."

"Aren't you needed with the others?" Alexis asked anxiously but he shook his head.

"They'll be fine without me Alexis. If there's an emergency, they will call me."

"If you're sure dude," Carlos said, a little unsure. He was wondering how angry their friends would be with the Decepticons and how brutal the battle might be.

"I am," Red Alert chuckled as he finished filling the tub. He then stood up and went over to a nearby container where the kids stored their swimming outfits and took them over to their owners. One at a time, he took them to their bathroom with their pool costumes and once they were dressed, carefully placed them in the hot bath.

They all groaned and sank into the water, it felt so good. Their aches slowly melted away until they felt like jelly. Red Alert sat next to them, keeping a close optic on them and smiling. It was nice to have a more normal role, that of caretaker rather than that of an army Medic. He'd once worked at a crèche filled with Sparklings and Younglings and what a job it had been.

Just as the water was started to turn quite warm, Optimus suddenly came into the room.

"Optimus," Alexis cried happily, even though he looked rather dirty and a little dented.

"Hello children," he said with a smile, getting onto his knee so he could see them better. "How are you enjoying your bath?"

"It's brilliant, amigo," Carlos exclaimed with a grin. "Just what we needed."

"What happened?" Rad questioned, making Optimus chuckle.

"Sideswipe managed to get the Minicon and I taught Megatron a lesson of my own."

"What lesson?" Alexis instantly laughed and he smiled wide, his face mask open.

"Oh, just that he doesn't find six of the best so amusing anymore."

As they gaped at him in astonishment, Optimus added.

"I'm afraid I need to head to the washroom to clean up but we can all have breakfast together if you like."

"Sure, sounds great," Rad replied, still rather stupefied.

As Optimus left, the kids glanced at each other, surely he hadn't meant what they thought he'd meant. Red Alert said mildly.

"Nobody hurts his children and gets away with it."

_Author's note. Heh, I think you can work out what happened but I thought it better not to write the action scene. More adventures in the next chapter, suggestions are welcome._


	7. Chapter 7

_Author's note. Suggestions are very welcome. _

_Part of this chapter was inspired by a scene from 'Balance of Two' a story I'm co author on. It's about if both teams had a Femme and the adventures they have together. It's posted by Mediziner, check it out if you're interested. She's also posted another story I co author called 'Accidental Hunger' a story where Armada Megatron has been turned into a vampire and honestly, it's much better than that sounds._

_Enjoy and please review._

It took the kids a couple of weeks to completely recover from their ordeal at the hands of the Decepticons. Thankfully, they only missed a few days of school although they remained quite stiff and had to be excused from PE. Luckily, it wasn't anywhere near an exam period so they were able to catch up on their work quite easily.

The Autobots had worked tirelessly to ensure that they were comfortable and had plenty of support, they helped with their homework, gave them warm baths, rubbed oils into their sore muscles and cooked them dinner. Alexis felt a little guilty that they were putting so much effort into this, she was really grateful but she couldn't help it. Optimus assured her that it was their pleasure to take care of them like this, it made them feel more than just soldiers in a war.

"It's no trouble at all to take care of you," Optimus said, stroking her head gently. "Don't worry about us Alexis, just concentrate on getting better."

She'd nodded but had still felt a little bad so talked it over with the boys.

"Hey don't worry about it," Carlos said consolingly. "They like taking care of us, it's no big deal."

"I know but...," she said, biting her lip a little. "I still feel guilty, Megatron probably wouldn't have bothered with us if it hadn't been for me."

"Alexis, it's not your fault, you just happened to be holding the Minicon," Rad told her. "It made sense at the time for you to throw those flares at him; he wasn't expecting it and you could use the Minicon to hide them. If Carlos or me had been holding that Minicon, then it would have been one of us he'd be pissed off at."

"Oh," she said slowly, she hadn't thought about that. "Your right, I can't believe I didn't think of that."

"No problem," Rad said with a smile. "Megatron really went overboard on that whole thing, there's no way we could have known he'd do that."

"Totally," Carlos agreed. "He blew that way out of proportion. But I think he's gotten over that now."

He ruefully rubbed his behind as he said this.

"Yeah," Alexis agreed, resisting the urge to rub her own rear and feeling better internally.

"Hey!" Scavenger greeted. "You kids manage your chores today?"

"Sure," Rad said with a smile.

"Good, glad you aren't trying to dodge out of it," Scavenger said with a grin. "You wouldn't believe the number of rookies I've had that milked their injuries for all they were worth."

The kids laughed at this as Carlos said reassuringly.

"Don't worry; we won't shirk our chores or anything."

"I'm glad to hear it," Scavenger said with a small smile just as the Minicon alarm went off.

"Huh, looks like we've got another hunt," he mused, straightening up but still looking at them. "You kids up for coming?"

"We can come?" Alexis said in amazement and he nodded with a smile.

"Sure, Optimus is fine with you coming as long as you keep out of the Decepticon's way," he told them, as he turned and headed in the direction of the Warp Room, the kids happily running after him.

"Hey guys, you ready to kick some Con behind?" Hotshot asked with a grin as he came jogging along.

"You bet," laughed Carlos as Rad asked. "You know where you're going?"

"I do," Sideswipe piped up as he appeared from out of another corridor. "And I've already programmed your uniforms."

"Really?" Alexis said excitedly, their uniforms were only changed when they were going to a particular environment which required something different. They'd once been given special scuba diving suits when they'd located a Minicon in a large but shallow sea. Now that had really been an adventure and they had the photos to prove it.

"Yep," Sideswipe said with a goofy grin. "You'll never guess where we're going."

"Come on, give us a clue," Carlos jokingly pleaded but the young Autobot just laughed.

"No deal Carlos, you'll just have to wait and see."

"Aww," Carlos groaned, still grinning as they hurried to the transformation panels.

They jumped onto them and watched as their bodies were bathed in a glowing light, transforming their clothes into a brand new set. They gasped in delight as they found the clothes had been transformed into warm parkas with fur lined hoods that enclosed their heads very snugly. Their thick tops and trousers also clung to their bodies, ensuring that no cold air could enter or any heat escape. Already, their bodies were warming due to their attire complete with thick gloves and boots.

"Whoa, must be cold where we're going," Rad exclaimed, feeling the front of his new winter suit.

"You bet, one of the coldest places on Earth," Sideswipe said excitedly as Blurr walked past.

"Enough chatting, we're going," the fast Autobot said pointedly.

"We're coming," Hotshot said, scooping up the kids so they could hurry along faster.

"You kids ready?" Optimus asked, he was already there and transformed.

"You bet," the boys chorused as Alexis added. "We'll keep out of your way and just look out for the Minicon."

"Good kids," Optimus said warmly as Hotshot let them down before transforming so they could enter.

"Is the location set?" Optimus asked Red Alert aloud.

"Yes sir," Red Alert replied, pressing a button and revealing where they were going, it looked extremely white.

"Alright, launch," Optimus commanded and a moment later, the Warp Gate had taken them to the Antarctica.

Half an hour later found the kids trudging along on their own, the Autobots and the Minicons were battling the Decepticons so they'd taken the opportunity to go searching. None of the enemy transformers had gone after them so for the moment, they were safe. Snow gently floated down on top of them, it wasn't heavy snow but it was very persistent.

"Dude, I'm glad we've got these suits," Carlos said, shivering as some more snow dropped onto them.

"You got it," Rad said ruefully as they descended deeper into the icy cavern which they'd just discovered and decided to explore. It seemed like a likely place for a Minicon.

"Is it just me, or is it getting much colder the further we go in?" Alexis asked, shivering a lot more.

"Yeah," Rad said, looking at how smooth the walls were getting, with a deep blue set behind them. "Do you think- _AH!"_

His sentence was cut off as they rounded a corner only to encounter a steep slope...which they naturally fell down. Yelling, they plunged down the slippery ice slope which curved and sloped sharply at intervals until it sent them shooting into a massive ice cavern.

"Where...where are we?" Alexis gasped, picking herself up and looking around.

"I dunno amiga, but look!" Carlos exclaimed, pointing at the opposite wall and part of the ceiling.

The others looked and gasped in shock, something was moving behind those parts. And with a bolt of shock, they realized that it was the ocean as a dark shape swam by, perhaps a seal?

"Hmm... the ice doesn't look all that sturdy, we should probably be very careful from here on out, so we don't make a loud sound or anything," Rad pointed out after observing the ice for a few moments.

"Right," said the other two, even though they were rather awed by how beautiful this natural structure was. Only a sheet of ice held back the powerful ocean and as long as they didn't disturb it, they could watch ocean life as it swam past.

After a few minutes of gazing in awe, they started to explore the large cavern. The walls glistened with a liquid glaze that shimmered in an eerie blue light. They were surprised at how much light there was, the water beyond the wall must be relatively shallows to allow the natural light in. It was so beautiful that they simply had to keep staring at it, almost tripping on loose chunks of ice lying around.

As they continued to gaze in awe, they suddenly caught catch a small glimpse of a familiar greenish light.

"The Mini-Con," Carlos said in triumph, starting to rush over only to realize...

"It's in the ice," groaned Alexis. "How are we going to get at that?"

"Good question," Rad said. "Come on, let's check it out anyway."

"Aww man...this feels like a job for only us, if either the Autobots or Decepticreeps blasted their way in here, the Mini-Con would possibly smash or get washed up into the ocean...I hate being stuck in things like this, arrrrrgh!" Carlos began messing up his hair slightly before dropping his arms and sighing softly.

"Cheer up Carlos," Alexis laughed playfully as they slipped and slide over to the ice wall. "Think how impressed Hot Shot and the others will be when we get the Mini-Con."

"Ahhh, yeah. But we still need to figure out how to wedge the Mini-Con out of that wall..," he responded.

"Maybe if we carefully chipped it out," Rad suggested. "The wall is pretty thick and if we just did it right where the Mini-Con is, we might be able to pull it out without destabilising things."

"If one of us did it while the others watch the ice, it might work," Alexis agreed with a nod.

Rad took out his knife and began to carefully scrape and chip away at the ice while the others carefully watched the rest. The last thing they wanted was a crack that could spread and cause the whole wall to shatter.

"Dude," Carlos said, flinching as the ice overhead groaned aloud as the sea moved. "How we gonna get out of here? We can't Warp on our own."

"Oh yeah...," Alexis's expression turning to slight worry. "We'll need Laserbeak to help us find a way back out.

"Yeah and avoid the Decepticons catching us," Rad said, teeth gritted as he tried to resist the urge to hit the ice too hard or sharply. They shivered, remembering the last time the Decepticons had caught them, and they really did not want a repeat of that.

It took a while but they finally were able to chip the Mini-Con shield out of the ice. Rad hadn't been able to avoid some rather deep cracks around the hole he'd taken the shield out of but they didn't look that bad. They now needed to get out, however, they were aware that the comm link, especially in these caverns would be just loud enough to cause the entire place to shake and crack.

"Got it," Alexis said in deep relief as Rad pulled it completely free. "Come on, let's get out of here."

As they made for the entrance, there was an ominous thud from above which caused ice to shake and rain down while the surrounding area groaned loudly. The kids froze; nothing bad had happened yet but they suddenly felt very nervous.

"I think the battle might have moved," Carlos gulped. "To right above us."

"I think your right," Alexis exclaimed. "Come on, let's try this tunnel."

They hurried forward and began to manoeuvre throughout the tunnels until they saw from afar, the exit. The three of them grinned in relief; soon they'd be out of this ice trap. However, their moment was ruined when they could see water rushing towards them.

"Let's get out of here! I'm betting that water is dangerous enough to get us all killed!" Rad cried out as they all ran towards the exit.

They ran as fast as possible but even then they could feel icy jets hitting the backs of their necks and legs. This only urged them to go faster until they were scrambling for the entrance as the water lapped at their feet.

"Come on!" Alexis cried as the boys shoved her out and she turned to help pull them out.

The water rushed out like an angry stampede of animals as soon as they were able to move off to the side then slowly watch as it died down. Quite a distance away the Autobots and Decepticons fighting, unaware of the excitement the kids had just been through.

"Damn, that was close," Rad panted before quickly checking the Mini-Con shield which he'd hidden in the front of his suit for safe keeping. "It looks fine, let's see if we can find Hot Shot or someone and Warp away."

"Let's do it soon, dudes," Carlos said, shivering from his wet boots and shins.

They slowly manoeuvred their way through the snow, while they would have their Mini-Con partners to keep the trail going faster, sadly their forms were useless in the thick snow, forcing them no choice but to walk on foot, boy did they wish they had a snowmobile to get through the snowy terrain.

"We should use Laserbeak and call one of the Autobots. Let's just hope none of the Decepticons overhear us," Alexis suggested.

"Let's just say we almost fell in the water and are getting cold," suggested Rad. "That way, if any Decepticons are listening, they'll think we're just trying to get a warm ride rather than trying to sneak a Mini-Con."

"Let's just hurry...!" Carlos shivered, his teeth chattered and rattled. "I'm n-not sure how long I can st-stand it here anymore, man..." He added, rubbing his arms.

"Y-yeah," Alexis said with her own shiver, it would not be hard to fake distress.

"Optimus? Red Alert? Hot Shot? Jetfire? Come in! Can anyone hear me?" Rad called out through Laserbeak's comm.

"Please, we're freezing and soaking wet, we need a ride," He pleaded, teeth chattering, hoping now of the Decepticons would bother with them.

/I'm afraid I can't as much as I would,/ Red Alert replied. "I'm still under heavy fire.../ The sounds of blasters could be heard on Red Alert's end.

/Hhh... I can't either... I'm pinned down pretty good, too,/ Hot Shot grumbled. The same sounds of blasters within the background.

Optimus Prime meanwhile was battling Megatron still, the sounds of them grappling and fighting were going through his end. /I would come, kids but I'm a little occupied...!/ He grunted. **/Hang tight, someone will come for you/**

"Wow... Sounds like one nasty battle..." Alexis said, commenting on hearing the commotion before the connection was cut.

"Gee, they must all be pinned down," Rad exclaimed, letting out a ghostly breath of air, checking the Mini-Con was safely hidden.

Shivering even more and with teeth chattering, Carlos gasped.

"L-lets f-find some...w-where t-to shelter."

"G-good plan," Rad agreed, unable to stop his teeth chattering slightly.

They started to trudge through the snow, hearing it crunch under their booted feet. The parts of them that had been hit by the icy water were turning into a biting cold sensation. If they didn't warm up soon, they could get a cold or something worse. They glanced back at the fighting transformers, they seemed pretty engaged and probably would be for quite some time.

It was very ironic that both the Autobots and the Decepticons were fighting so hard for a Minicon that had already been found.

"You see anything?" Alexis asked, covering her face as an icy blast hit them full on. "Argh."

"Not yet," Rad grunted through gritted teeth before pausing as he heard the steady thump, thump of an approaching vehicle, probably a flier.

"Is t-that J-Jetfire?" Carlos questioned as he heard it too.

A loud cackle answered him and they all groaned.

"No, it's not him," Rad groaned as Cyclonus wheeled overhead.

"Ha, ha, ha, look what we got here," the mad helicopter laughed. "A trio of tots all alone in the snow."

"Go away Cyclonus," Alexis said irritably, as the wind continued to chill their bodies.

"Aww, what's the matter?" he said in a mock hurt voice. "You don't wanna play today?

"It's too c-cold for that," Rad said sardonically as he scanned the area, looking for a dark area against the white that might indicate a shelter.

This just made Cyclonus laugh again as he cooed.

"Aww, you little punks a bit cold? What a shame...and I don't have anything to warm you up."

"Your concern is more than enough," Alexis told him which of course caused him to cackle even more.

"Yeah, that's me," he laughed. "I just can't stop caring, ha, ha, ha!"

"Sure," Carlos said, rolling his eyes. "Don't you have a Minicon to find or something?"

"Hey, I'll do what I want," Cyclonus declared before saying. "What about you punks, aren't you searching for it?"

"We w-were but we're t-too c-cold now," Alexis said, shivering violently for affect.

"You haven't seen anywhere we could go, have you?" Rad asked as Cyclonus continued hovering.

"Hah, there's nothing out here kid except snow and ice. If you're desperate, maybe I'll take you to Megatron, he'd warm you up fast," Cyclonus replied with a dark chuckle.

"Not unless he fancies being warmed up by Optimus," Carlos shot back making the helicopter exclaim.

"Hey!" Cyclonus exclaimed. "Watch your mouth, punk!"

"Just saying," Carlos defended with a shrug as a shot hit Cyclonus and he yelped with pain.

"Yow! Who did that?" he demanded, spinning around, firing wildly.

"I did," Sideswipe declared boldly as he raced towards them. "Buzz off, Cyclonus."

"Little punk, I'll get you for that," Cyclonus snarled, rising up into the air so he could fire upon the young Autobot.

"You'll have to catch me first," Sideswipe dared as the kids called to him.

"Sideswipe, don't drive away, we're really cold," Rad yelled, keeping up the act.

"Please, Warp us back to base right now," begged Alexis.

"Huh, okay," he replied, doing an about turn and charging for them. Transforming, he scooped them up, dodging Cyclonus's fire as he activated the Warp Gate.

"Bye bye," he called to Cyclonus as the helicopter spotted a glint of green in the kids arms.

"Hey, the Minicon," he exclaimed as Sideswipe and the kids disappeared as he realised he'd been tricked.

"Aww, frag it," he cursed as Sideswipe sent a message to the other Autobots, letting them know what had happened.

Optimus meanwhile immediately punched Megatron off, breaking the grapple after freeing one of his hands. "Looks like you've lost, Megatron.," he said, sternly, straightening himself.

"We'll see about that," snarled Megatron as he jumped back and fired up his cannon. However, instead of aiming right at Optimus, he aimed at the ice below his feet.

For a moment, Optimus was confused, until he heard the loud groans and cracking from the ice, immediately he tried to back up but the cracks soon caught up to him, causing him to fall in with a heavy splash. "Arrrggghhh!" he cried out as disappeared

"Ha ha ha," Megatron laughed. "I may not have the Minicon but I still leave with some small victory. Enjoy yourself, Icicle Prime."

With that, the Decepticon Leader warped. Elsewhere, the other 'Cons also warped out after knowing immediately that their leader had warped out.

"Optimus!" Hotshot cried out in horror as his leader disappeared below the ice.

"Optimus has gone under!" he yelled, rushing forward without a moment's delay.

"Frag," Scavenger cursed, also surging forward. "Jetfire!"

The shuttle came barrelling down from the air, landing heavily before the gaping hole and looking straight down. He saw Optimus right below him, struggling to reach the surface but his movements were sluggish. The deadly low temperature was already having an effect on the Autobot leader as his systems started to shut down into stasis lock.

"Red Alert, get ready," Jetfire commanded as he plunged straight after his leader, his thrusters on at full power. Being a space shuttle, his armour was better equipped to deal with extreme temperatures than Optimus's was.

But even with the extra protection, his systems were almost overwhelmed at the deadly cold which bit viciously at his body, trying to penetrate it. Ignoring the warning signals that his systems were frantically sending to his processor, he plunged down into the deep, trying to reach his sinking leader. Optimus was weakly struggling but his joints were becoming clogged with rapidly forming ice crystals. His optics were starting to dim, they flickered back and forth as he descended.

Grimly, Jetfire put all his power into shooting downwards, he had to reach Optimus soon or _he'd_ be in need of rescue. He saw Optimus try to raise a hand towards him and in return, Jetfire thrust his own forward.

"_Come on," _he growled mentally. _"Come on...!"_

There was a moment where he thought he'd miss his friend's hand but then he closed around Optimus's and he managed to yank his body upwards so he pointed to the surface. Gunning as much power as he could, he propelling himself and Optimus to the hole in the ice, knowing they both had to get out soon or they could be done for.

Somehow, he managed to force himself right to the surface before his own systems started to fail but Hot Shot, Scavenger and Hoist were there to grab him. As Blurr came rushing over to help, Hot Shot transformed, a cord attached to Jetfire's arm which helped to haul first him and then Optimus.

"Unngghhh...hurry...warp!" Ice was rapidly forming all over their bodies followed by heavy mists of frost. "This is going to be a nightmare," Jetfire grumbled to himself.

"The gate's open," Blurr stated and they were away from the icy wilderness mere seconds later.

Gasping as he felt how cold they both were, Red Alert said firmly "We need to get them to the Med Bay immediately,"

The kids had been about to say they'd retrieved the Minicon when they saw the state Optimus and Jetfire were in, both supported by two bots. Scavenger and Hoist were taking Optimus while Hotshot, Blurr and Red Alert were taking Jetfire.

"What happened?" Alexis cried.

"Megatron happened," Hot Shot growled.

"Why are they both looking so frozen?" Rad questioned curiously as his two other friends wondered as well. "It looks like they fell into the ice."

"It would appear to be Megatron's way of exacting some revenge," Red Alert explained grimly as they hurried to the Med Bay as fast as they cold.

The kids couldn't believe this had happened, the mission had gone so well and now this had happened. Once they were there, Red Alert started bringing out equipment, including typing in commands which allowed a wall to split away to reveal a massive tub and shower head.

"He broke the ice under Optimus and Jetfire went in after him," Blurr said grimly.

As the kids gasped, Red Alert added.

"We need to warm them up immediately, Sideswipe, Hot Shot, Scavenger, help them into the Energon bath."

"I'll do my best," Sideswipe said doubtfully, his supiror officers were very big. He and Hot Shot along with the others helped Optimus Prime and Jetfire into an Energon Bath, Optimus had to be placed in first as he had a much more critical condition than Jetfire due to being exposed to the cold much longer than the Shuttle.

"Phew, they're in, Red Alert," Hot Shot responded while Sideswipe collapsed to his knees, exhausted.

"Heavy," he gasped.

"I know right?" Hot Shot couldn't help but chuckle before quelling under Red Alert's still look.

"Activating jet stream," Red Alert said, pressing a button which instantly released a massive burst of warm Energon over the stricken 'bots, quickly filling the tub. The kids watched this in fascination; Hot Shot had placed them on a higher level to observe.

"I hope they'll be okay..." Alexis said, worrying.

"Don't worry, amiga!" Carlos placed a hand on her shoulder. "I don't think a little frostbite would take down our friends that easily."

"Maybe not but it was close," Red Alert said grimly, checking Optimus as the two bots started to stir as their systems were slowly warmed.

"Look, they're moving!" Rad exclaimed, his two friends' attention was turned back to the two."

Jetfire let out a sigh of relief, that felt much better.

"Man, that feels good. I almost thought for sure I was a goner after getting Optimus out of the ice," he said cheerfully, not sounding all that concerned about the situation he and his leader had been in.

Optimus Prime eventually stirred, onlining his optics. "Mmmhh... What happened? The base...?"

"Ah, good. You're awake," Red Alert said, examining his Leader.

"Red Alert," Optimus croaked, he still wasn't fully recovered.

"Megatron got you sir," Hot Shot cut in heatedly. "But Jetfire managed to drag you out of the ice and we brought you both back here."

"Jetfire? I see... I had wondered who I saw before I went into stasis lock," Optimus responded, pausing for a short moment before asking. "How is our old friend?"

"Fine, just stiff," Jetfire chuckled before coughing. "And who are you calling old?"

The kids relaxed, if they were joking like that, they were going to be okay. As the two bots sank a little lower into the hot liquid, Alexis leaned forward and said softly.

"You had us worried for a moment there."

"Ah, this is nothing," Jetfire said, waving a hand dismissively before sinking it back into the energon. "Been through much worse."

"Teamwork," Scavenger said with a small smile. "That's the key to these situations."

"Too right dude," Carlos said earnestly. "You guys must have gotten him out real fast."

"We sure did," Hotshot said proudly, allowing the kids to go a little closer to their beloved guardian. "No teams better than ours."

"Yeah, I bet Thrust or Starscream couldn't have gotten Megatron out like I did Optimus," Jetfire declared proudly.

"Indeed Jetfire, thank you, my friend. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here," Optimus responded, chuckling.

The two smiled before clasping each other's hand and then relaxing again in the warm Energon.

"Hey, at least we got the Mini-Con," Carlos spoke up. "Just think how pissed off Megatron is going to be about that."

"Where did you find it, kids?" Optimus asked, his voice a little hoarse but still strong.

"In an ice cavern," Carlos said excitedly. "We had to chip it out; we almost got swamped by the sea."

"Yeah, we only just got out in time," Alexis said ruefully. "It was right at our backs practically."

Optimus nodded. "It's a good thing you kids made it out safely, but please do be more careful next time, I don't know what we would do if we lost any of you..." He said, his tone turning grim at the end of his sentence.

"We will," Rad promised solemnly. "We did try to make sure the Decepticons wouldn't come for us when they realised we had the Mini-Con."

"Ah so that's why you were begging for a ride back home," Hoist said with a grin.

"Not a bad ploy," Scavenger mused, sounding rather impressed.

"Yeah, we just didn't want to be clearer in case they figured out what we were up to. We thought if they heard us moping for a lift, they'd ignore it," Carlos stated proudly. "So we got the Minicon right under the Decepticons ugly noses."

"And there's the little guy," Hoist said, lifting up the newly revealed Minicon.

"Hey, what's your name little guy?" Hot Shot asked and the Mini-Con beeped a response.

_"Wheeler."_

"Nice to meet you," Rad said with a friendly smile. "Hope you enjoy being part of the team.

The Street Action Team beeped in agreement.

"Yeah, you guys are awesome," Carlos confirmed which made the Mini-Cons even happier.

Optimus smiled as he watched the interaction between his men, the Minicons and his children. Despite his brush with possible deactivation, the day had been a success and they had a brand new Minicon with them. And best of all, the kids had successfully did their part while avoiding the Decepticons, he couldn't be prouder.

And proving Megatron wrong always made him feel a lot better.

_Author's note. More action next time but what kind? Suggestions are very welcome, until then._


End file.
